How the listening section works — and where routine marks hide
Section 2 plays ten short pilot–controller exchanges. After each one, two multiple-choice questions appear — 15 seconds each, one replay allowed per audio. For the routine exchanges, the first question hunts numbers: flight levels, headings, frequencies, call signs, and whether the readback was correct. This lesson trains exactly that.
Why routine is not easy: nothing goes wrong in these recordings — which means everything depends on detail. Two aircraft with similar call signs, a frequency with five digits, a runway said twice. The test isn't asking “did you follow the story?” It's asking “did you catch the exact numbers a professional must catch?”
The listening posture that works
Track who is who from the first second. Every transmission starts or ends with a call sign — anchor each sentence to its aircraft.
Say the numbers silently with the speaker. Echoing digits as you hear them locks them into memory better than listening passively.
Expect the readback to matter. When a pilot repeats an instruction, compare it word by word — the question often lives in the difference.
Spend the replay wisely. One replay is allowed: use it for the numbers question, not the story.
Warm up — your ears on digits (60 seconds)
Say these aloud, fast and clearly, the radio way — digit by digit: 119.625 · runway 27 · heading 340 · flight level 80 · squawk 4515 · wind 240 at 18, gusting 30. Then invent five more of your own.
01:00
Numbers, spoken right — the radio's own arithmetic
Radio numbers have their own grammar, built so digits cannot be confused. Knowing the system means you hear a number once and know what kind of number it is — before the question even asks.
Kind of number
How it sounds
What tells you which is which
Call sign
“Corvet three eight two”
A company word + digits; it opens or closes every transmission.
Flight level
“Flight level one one zero”
Always announced as flight level; altitude in hundreds of feet.
Heading
“Turn left heading three four zero”
Always three digits, always after heading; a compass direction.
Frequency
“One two four decimal three five zero”
The word decimal in the middle; where to call next.
Runway
“Runway zero six” / “runway two seven”
Two digits after runway; 06 and 24 are different ends of different tarmac.
Wind
“Wind two four zero degrees, one eight knots”
Direction then speed — two numbers in one breath, in that order.
Transponder
“Squawk four five one five”
Four digits after squawk.
The famous confusions the system exists to prevent — and the test exists to check: fifteen hundred vs five thousand (which is why digits are spoken one by one), niner for nine (so it can't blur into “five” in noise), and headings vs flight levels (both can be “one one zero” — only the announcing word separates them).
1. You hear: “…one one zero…” in a noisy recording. What decides whether that was an altitude or a direction?
2. A controller says “contact Approach one one niner decimal six two five”. Which is the frequency?
Speak — be the controller (90 seconds)
Give a full imaginary transmission containing all seven kinds of number from the table — a call sign, a runway, a wind, a flight level, a heading, a frequency and a squawk — spoken the radio way, in one flowing clearance.
01:30
Dialogue drills — routine exchanges, real questions
Three short radio conversations, like the ones in the test. For each one, press Listen and don't look at the words. Then answer the two questions — press Go to start each 15-second clock. You can listen one more time (the test allows one replay). When you've answered, open the script to check.
Drill 1 — one plane takes off, another comes in to land
A. 00:15 — What frequency was Danver 671 told to contact?
B. 00:15 — What does airborne mean in this context?
Drill 2 — taxi instructions with a crossing
GND: Mistral 8 8 4, taxi to holding point runway 06 via taxiway Delta, cross runway 1 2, report crossing complete. P: Taxi to holding point runway 06 via Delta, cross runway 1 2, will report crossing complete, Mistral 8 8 4. GND: Mistral 8 8 4, correct — and be advised, workers cutting the grass on the left side of Delta, they are well clear of the taxiway. P: Copied the workers on the left, Mistral 8 8 4, crossing runway 1 2 now.
A. 00:15 — Which runway is the aircraft going to depart from?
B. 00:15 — What does well clear of mean in this context?
A. 00:15 — What was the aircraft's passing level at first contact?
B. 00:15 — What does for the moment mean in this context?
The similar-digit trap — where routine questions are lost
Almost every routine question that candidates get wrong dies the same death: two numbers that share their digits. 382 and 328. 4559 and 4595. 06 and 60. The defence is a habit, not a talent: anchor each number to its owner the moment you hear it.
The anchoring habit: don't store “382… 328… who was holding?” Store the pair as facts with owners: “Corvet-382-departing. Bilton-328-holding.” Name + number + role, three beats. It feels slower; it is actually the only thing fast enough.
TWR: Sarto 7 4 5, runway 15, cleared for take-off, wind 140 degrees, 7 knots. P1: Cleared for take-off runway 15, Sarto 7 4 5. TWR: Sarno 4 7 5, hold short runway 15, departing traffic. P2: Holding short runway 15, Sarno 4 7 5. TWR: Sarno 4 7 5, line up runway 15 and wait. P2: Lining up runway 15 and waiting, Sarno 4 7 5.
A. 00:15 — Which aircraft is lining up on runway 15?
B. 00:15 — What does hold short mean in this context?
Train the anchor (90 seconds)
Invent your own trap: two call signs that share digits, one departing and one holding. Say the whole exchange aloud — tower and both pilots — then test yourself out loud: “Who was holding? Who departed?” If you can build the trap, you can no longer fall into it.
01:30
Speak & self-check
Two speaking tasks that turn today's listening into production — then the honest checklist.
1. Read the radio aloud (2 minutes)
Go back to Drill 1, open the script and read it aloud — all three voices, natural speed, digits spoken the radio way. Reading transmissions aloud is the fastest way to make the rhythm of radio numbers automatic in your own mouth and ear at once.
02:00
2. Brief the exchange (90 seconds)
Summarise Drill 3 in plain English for a colleague: what the aircraft wanted, what interrupted it, and how it resolved. Notice you must convert radio numbers into sentences — “it was climbing to flight level 220 but was held at 180 because of crossing traffic…”
01:30
Self-check
Next: Lesson 5 — the non-routine recordings, where the question is no longer “which number?” but “what exactly has gone wrong — and how bad is it?”