How to hear ATC and radio "faster"?

[Bob Scott 7,720]

I was sitting on the ramp at KHOU (Houston Hobby) in a USAF G-4 some years ago monitoring Clearance Delivery as we were getting ready to blast out of there.  A guy with a slow Texas drawl called for clearance from Houston to Waco, and the controller gave it to him--immediately, in one rapid-fire shot, and without pausing so much as to take a breath.  There was a long pause, and then the pilot keyed up and said, slowly, with an accentuated drawl: "Daaaang Clearance, I guess I shouldda got my pencil out for that one."

😀

 

 

[Nathan3219 113]

Would like to say thanks for all the good advice and great stories!

Anyways I would like to update ya'll and say that I'm getting better in this. Just took off from JFK and gained some confidence and learned more of what to expect from the controllers. Still wasnt a perfect flight but myunderstanding of "radio talk", procedures, and confidence is steadily increasing, and I am not as afraid to mutter out that "say again".

Also props to the controller I had tonight for being patient with me, appreciated it! (EDV5355 out of JFK for BUF, in case that controller reads this!)

Edited January 3, 2019 by Nathan3219