A guest post by Christian Kirsch, private pilot and founder of FlyTalk.ai
Four radio drills turn recognized BZF knowledge into freely accessible answers.
Because in the question list, it is enough to recognize the correct solution. In radio, on the other hand, you have to figure it out yourself.
formulate, speak, listen, and react to the new situation.
This gap can be closed without hours of practice. What matters is not the number of repetitions.
repeated patterns of behavior, but whether a specific radio turn succeeds without visible response options – and whether
a mistake is once again being trained precisely there.
Exercise 1: Answer options are obscured
Take an official BZF question, read only the situation and obscure the answer options. In other words,
Answer is given completely in full. Only then do you compare it with the official solution.
Example: Question 120 of the BNetzA catalog deals with the start notification transmitted via radio after the takeoff.
Departure from an uncontrolled airfield. The solution proposes two ways: the competent
Air traffic control station or the appropriate FIS to be forwarded to the AIS-C. Who only needs the right information
Kästchen recognizes the information and has understood it. Who can call both paths clean without the option menu,
she made it available for download.
Step 2: Only change one critical component
A radio turn is not new just because the entire scenario changes. Often, for learning transfer, just one change is enough.
a targeted change: a different call sign, a different runway, a different reporting point, or something else
Scope of release.
That is, do the same exercise three times and change exactly one component per round. This way you can see if you are improving.
You understand the procedure or just remember the previous wording. The drill is particularly useful when
a response sounds grammatically correct, but a critical component is missing.
Exercise 3: Listen, note down, respond freely
Read out a brief instruction or information to yourself. Just note down the critical elements in your
a short personal form. After that, you speak freely without having to read the entire sentence.
The purpose is not to memorize a universal formulation. You are training to remember what you hear.
Information to form the next own Funkturn. In the training, the learning partner can then
not only marking as „right“ or „wrong“, but also naming which component is present, incorrect or
It was wild.
Exercise 4: Repeat the incorrect turn immediately
The most important passage begins after the mistake. Write down the cause in one sentence, for example:
„Called a reporting point, the scope of release is not clearly recorded.“ Then you repeat the same radio turn
the same starting point.
Only when the corrected answer is successfully entered do you change a variable and test the transfer. This creates a
short loop of trial, concrete debriefing and repetition – instead of a long collection of errors,
which will only be discussed at the end.
This way the exercise can be organized with a learning partner.
One person takes over the role of the counterparty and keeps only four things in mind per radio turn:
- What information was required in this situation?
- Which critical component was present?
- What was missing or was wrong?
- Will the repetition succeed without a visible demonstration?
A ten-minute radio block doesn’t need more. The roles can be switched after five turns. What matters is,
that the assessment depends on observable components and not only on the overall impression, the sentence
It sounded „just right“ somehow.
How FlyTalk illustrates this loop
FlyTalk is a digital practical example of the same training concept. The system forms flight training as
State-dependent PTT simulation starting from: Learners answer freely, critical components are regulated based on rules
The debriefing identifies specific gaps and a faulty radio transmission can be repeated.
In this way, FlyTalk does not replace the official questionnaire nor the training or current operational procedures.
Documents. The simulator starts where the answer option ends: with the own spoken radio call.
Further training resource: https://flytalk.ai/wissen/flugfunk-selbststaendig-ueben-ohne-termin
Conclusion
Four rules are sufficient for the transition from theory to speaking practice: hiding answer options, only one answer option is allowed per question, and the answer must be given in a clear and concise manner.
to modify a critical component, to freely reverse information and to immediately correct erroneous turns
Repeat. This creates a step-by-step, accessible radio routine from recognized knowledge.
Sources and classification
- Federal Network Agency, Questionnaire BZF II/BZF I, as of 2024, specifically question 120
- Primary source: Examination questions BZF from the Federal Network Agency
Transparency notice: FlyTalk is presented as an example of practice in the article. The text is not an
Operating instructions; current AIP, NOTAMs, training requirements and the actual ATC instructions remain
significantly.
