Preparing for the FRTOL practical
The practical is a simulated flight, on the ground, with an examiner playing every station you call. It is not a memory test. It is a test of whether you can run a normal flight on the radio without the examiner having to help you.
What you are actually being tested for
Two separate licences get confused constantly, and only one of them is about you.
- Flight Radiotelephony Operator's Licence (FRTOL): licenses YOU to operate an aircraft radio. You need it to transmit on aeronautical frequencies as pilot in command.
- It is gained by a practical RT test (with the written exam), assessed against CAP 413 — the UK radiotelephony manual.
- OFCOM Aircraft Radio Licence: a separate licence for the aircraft's radio EQUIPMENT. The FRTOL covers you, the operator; the OFCOM licence covers the installation.
The shape of the test
You are given a scenario and you fly it by radio, start to finish. These are the phases it is built from — if you can run every one of them without stopping, the test has nothing left to ask you.
- Get the weather first
- Listen to the ATIS if the field broadcasts one, or ask the station for airfield information. Note the information letter, the runway in use and the QNH.
- Set up
- Set your altimeter to that QNH and note the active runway.
- Initial call & taxi
- Tune the aerodrome frequency. Make your first call with your FULL callsign and request a radio check + taxi (ATC: “request taxi”; AGCS: “request taxi information”).
- Read back
- Read back the taxi instructions, runway and QNH.
- Departure
- At the holding point, when cleared, read back the line-up / take-off clearance (and any conditional clearance, ending with “behind”).
- Leaving the zone
- Request a frequency change to your next service.
- New frequency
- Make your initial call; when told “pass your message”, give your details using CARPAI.
- En route
- Give position reports using CPTANE when asked or at reporting points.
- Arrival
- Nearing your destination, free-call the approach/radar unit “inbound”, pass your details, and get joining instructions.
- Join & land
- Change to Tower, report as instructed, join the circuit and land — reading back the landing clearance.
- If it goes wrong
- Use PAN-PAN (urgency) or MAYDAY (distress), each spoken three times, then the message content.
Where marks are actually lost
Not on nerves, and rarely on the phonetic alphabet. They go on readbacks: an item that had to come back in full and came back as “Roger”. This is the list.
- Runway in use
- Altimeter settings (QNH / QFE) — add “hectopascals” when the QNH is below 1000
- Clearances to enter, land on, take off from, line up on, hold short of, cross or backtrack a runway
- Taxi instructions
- SSR (squawk) codes
- Level, heading and speed instructions
- Frequency changes
- Conditional clearances — repeat the condition and end with the condition word (e.g. “… behind the landing Cessna, behind”)
Roger, Wilco, or the whole thing back
The second most common fault. These three are not interchangeable and an examiner is listening for which one you reach for.
- Roger
- “I have received all of your last transmission.” Acknowledges information only. It does NOT mean you will comply, it is never used where a readback is required, and it is never the answer to a question — use “Affirm” or “Negative” for that.
- Wilco
- “Will comply” — I understand your message and will comply with it. Use to acknowledge an instruction you will act on, e.g. after “report final” → “Wilco, G-ABCD.”
- Report …
- An instruction to tell the controller when you reach a point or condition, e.g. “report final”, “report field in sight”, “report downwind”. Acknowledge it now — “Wilco, G-ABCD” (or read back the report point) — then actually make the report when you get there.
The radio check you will be asked for
It opens most tests, and the scale has five points with specific meanings.
- Readability 1
- Unreadable
- Readability 2
- Readable now and then
- Readability 3
- Readable but with difficulty
- Readability 4
- Readable
- Readability 5
- Perfectly readable
Given in reply to a radio check, e.g. “G-ABCD, readability 5”. Readability is information only — acknowledge it, don't read it back.
The form afterwards
The practical is recorded on the SRG1171, the CAA’s training and application form. Who may sign it, and what TowerTalk can and cannot do about it, is covered separately.
Worth reading before you book, because it decides who you book with.
Practise this at your airfield
Reading it is the easy half. Pick your own airfield, with its real frequencies and today’s weather, and say these calls out loud until they stop being something you remember and start being something you do.
Find your airfield →Written from the same vetted study data the app uses, and checked against it on 11 September 2026. TowerTalk is a training aid: your instructor and your examiner are the authority on whether you are ready.