Ask a Flight Instructor

Posts Tagged ‘phraseology’

As reported in this morning’s AvFlash news, the FAA is soon going to implement a change from “Position and Hold” to “Line Up and Wait” in order to conform with international phraseology standards.  This change is expected to occur in mid-year 2010.  In fact, if you fly in and out of Canadian airspace you know that this particular phraseology has already been in use for sometime (since about March of 2008).

For those who are new to this phrase, here is a basic primer on this new phraseology:

Current Phraseology:

“Taxi into Position” or “Taxi to Position and Wait”

New Phraseology:

“Line Up” or “Line Up and Wait”

Definition: Used by ATC to inform a pilot to taxi onto the departure runway in takeoff position and wait (hold). It is not authorization for takeoff. It is used when takeoff clearance cannot immediately be issued because of traffic or other reasons.

I think short term this might be a change some may grumble about I think overall this is a good change.  I believe that standards only work when applied universally across the board.  The more exceptions that are made to a standard the better chance you have at injecting confusion and error into the system.   This not only helps U.S. pilots flying internationally but also helps reduce confusion from foreign pilots who are flying domestically within the U.S.

What are your thoughts about line up and wait?