PLT196: ATIS Broadcasts
What code PLT196 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study ATIS Broadcasts before your checkride.
Recall communications - ATIS broadcasts
What this means for your checkride
The Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS) is a continuous recorded broadcast of non-control information at busier airports: weather, active runway, approaches in use, and notices. Each recording carries a phonetic code letter, and you report having the current one on initial contact.
ATIS offloads routine information from controllers, so the FAA tests what it contains and the requirement to have the current broadcast.
Pilots skip ATIS and ask the controller for weather and runway. That is what ATIS exists to prevent; you listen first and tell the controller you have information, by its code letter.
Where to study it
A code on your test report is an area of deficiency. An authorized instructor must review it with you and endorse that review before you take the practical test, and the examiner may revisit it during the oral. Study it until you can explain it out loud, not just recognize the answer.