Pre-brief
Aircraft: Airbus A320
Callsign: KLM 742
Route: Barcelona–El Prat (LEBL) to Amsterdam Schiphol (EHAM)
Current state: You are on final approach to Amsterdam runway 18R at 1,500 feet when the gear-unsafe light illuminates — the nose gear position indicator shows unlocked. The Captain is the Pilot Flying; you are working the radio. You are on Amsterdam Approach frequency.
Souls on board: 144
Endurance: 40 minutes
Your role: First Officer, working the radio (Pilot Monitoring)
How this works
How this works. You’re playing the pilot. A instructor will introduce the activity in her own voice, then the controller’s first transmission begins. Every radio transmission — controller or pilot — ends with a short roger beep, the cue that the speaker has finished. After each controller transmission, the instructor gives you an instruction — telling you what information to communicate back to the controller (e.g. read back a clearance, declare an emergency, report your status) — and reminds you that you have eight seconds to respond. Your job is to relay that information to the controller using proper ATC phraseology. Speak your reply aloud — recording yourself on a phone voice memo makes review easier. You’ll then hear one model pilot response against light cabin background — that’s one acceptable phrasing, not the only correct one. Take notes while you listen if it helps.
Comprehension questions
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What was the controller’s first instruction before the crew declared the emergency?
The controller said ‘report outer marker’ — a routine approach progress call — before the crew broke in with the Pan-Pan.
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After acknowledging the Pan-Pan, what did the controller assign?
The controller said ‘climb to altitude three thousand feet, heading zero nine zero’.
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What did the controller ask before giving the final approach clearance?
The controller said ‘report status of the gear’ — the crew needed to confirm the gear situation was resolved before a new approach clearance was issued.
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The crew declared a Pan-Pan, not a Mayday. What does this tell us about the difference?
Pan-Pan means urgent but not yet life-threatening. With a gear-unsafe indication, the crew can go around and recycle the gear. If the gear cannot be locked, the situation would escalate to Mayday.
Full transcript
Controller: KLM 742, Amsterdam Approach. You are established on the ILS, runway 18R. Report outer marker.
Instructor cue: Declare the urgency and tell the controller you are going around — your nose gear is showing unsafe.
Pilot (model response): Pan-Pan, Pan-Pan, Pan-Pan. Amsterdam Approach, KLM 742, nose gear unsafe indication. Going around. Request priority handling. 144 souls on board, endurance 40 minutes. KLM 742.
Why it works: Pan-Pan spoken three times (correct for urgency, not distress), followed by station, callsign, nature of the problem, immediate action, request, souls on board, endurance in time, and callsign. All urgency elements present.
Controller: KLM 742, Pan-Pan acknowledged. Climb to altitude 3,000 feet, heading 090. You are number one for runway 18R. Report when gear issue is resolved.
Instructor cue: Read back your climb altitude and the heading.
Pilot (model response): Climbing to altitude 3,000 feet, heading 090. KLM 742.
Why it works: compact, accurate read-back of the two items in the instruction — altitude and heading. Callsign at the end closes the exchange.
Controller: KLM 742, report status of the gear.
Instructor cue: Tell the controller the nose gear is now locked down and request a new ILS approach for runway 18R.
Pilot (model response): Nose gear is locked down. Three greens confirmed. Request ILS approach runway 18R. KLM 742.
Why it works: directly answers the controller’s request (gear status), provides the standard confirmation phrase (“three greens”), then moves immediately to the next request.
Controller: KLM 742, roger. Turn left heading 360, descend to altitude 2,000 feet. Cleared for ILS approach runway 18R. Wind 180 degrees, 10 knots. Emergency services are standing by.
Instructor cue: Read back your heading, descent altitude, and the approach clearance.
Pilot (model response): Left heading 360, descend to altitude 2,000 feet, cleared ILS approach runway 18R. KLM 742.
Why it works: complete read-back of heading, altitude, approach type and runway designator. Wind and emergency services are information items, not instructions to read back.
Key vocabulary and phraseology
| Term | Definition / note |
|---|---|
| Pan-Pan (urgency call) | International urgency call, spoken three times. Signals a serious situation that is not (yet) an immediate threat to life — one step below Mayday. |
| gear-unsafe indication (noun phrase) | A cockpit warning (usually an amber light) showing that a landing gear leg has not locked in the down position. Requires a go-around and troubleshooting before landing. |
| going around (phrase) | Aborting an approach and climbing away from the runway to try again. The standard response to a gear-unsafe indication at low altitude. |
| priority handling (phrase) | The crew requests ATC to treat them as first in the landing sequence and expedite clearances. Granted automatically on a Pan-Pan or Mayday. |
| three greens (phrase) | Cockpit shorthand for all three landing gear — nose, left main, right main — confirmed down and locked. Reported to ATC after a successful gear recycle. |
| number one (phrase) | First in the approach sequence; all other traffic holds or is redirected until this aircraft has landed. |
| outer marker (noun) | A radio beacon located approximately 7–11 nm from the runway threshold, marking the start of the ILS approach. |
| emergency services (noun phrase) | Fire engines, ambulance, and rescue teams deployed to the runway threshold whenever an aircraft declares a Pan-Pan or Mayday. |
Variation prompt
How else could you have phrased the Pan-Pan declaration? What would change if the gear recycling had failed and the nose gear remained unsafe — at what point would you upgrade from Pan-Pan to Mayday, and how would your radio call change?
Level
Level: CEFR B2 / ICAO Level 5
Want to read about a real landing gear incident? See our news article: Jeju Air 737 Crashes at Muan, Killing 179.