Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

1 Answers

Use of radio during XC flight

Asked by: 3655 views General Aviation, Helicopter, Private Pilot

My CFI has been quizzing me on the sectional and he'll ask me who do I need to call at a particular point during XC flight. And i continuously mix up "radio" and "approach" (in my location: Fort Polk Approach, and DeRidder Radio.) Who are the two and for what reasons is it necessary to call them?? Thanks in advance!!

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

1 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Jan 27, 2015

    When calling Flight Service, you address your radio call to “Radio”.
    When calling an approach control facility, you address your call to “Approach”.

    You would call Flight Service to open or close a flight plan or to obtain inflight info such as updated weather.

    You would call approach when approaching an airport served by an approach control facility (Class B, Class C or TRSA).

    Your flight instructor should have demonstrated this to you on your dual cross country flights.

    +3 Votes Thumb up 3 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.