ATIS Explained: Transcript and Practice for Student Pilots

ATIS stands for Automatic Terminal Information Service. It gives pilots routine information about an airport, including weather, runways and relevant operational conditions. Learning to separate these details makes a fast broadcast easier to understand and helps you prepare your first call to ATC.

This guide uses the Zurich transcript below as a reading exercise, then shows how to turn it into short notes. It is a retained training example, not current airport information. For listening practice, use the ATIS recordings in our free ICAO English sample; those are separate exercises, not the recording for this transcript.

What should you listen for in an ATIS?

• Airport and information letter: identify the airport and the current message, such as Information Kilo. The letter changes when the message is updated.
• Time: note the observation time and its stated time reference. Z means UTC in the example below.
• Approach and runways: distinguish the expected arrival approach from the departure runway.
• Weather: collect wind, visibility, cloud, temperature and dew point, keeping the units beside the numbers.
• QNH and operational information: record the pressure setting, transition level and any relevant remarks or restrictions.

Under the European SERA.9010 ATIS rules, surface wind direction is expressed in degrees magnetic. Do not confuse this with the true-north reference used in METAR wind reports. Always keep the reported units and use the published local procedures.

Worked example: Zurich Information Kilo

Read the transcript once without taking notes. On the second pass, identify the message letter, both runways, wind and QNH. The information letter in this example is Kilo.

Zurich Arrival Information Kilo, at 09:20 Z, Arrivals expect ILS Approach Runway 14, Transition Level 70, Departure Runway 28, Wind 070°/4 Kts Variable 010°/110°, Visibility 8 KM, Touchdown Zone 10 Km or more, Clouds Few 700 feet, Scattered 900 feet, Broken 1100 ft, Temperature 1°, Dewpoint -1°, QNH 1031, NOSIG.

Annotate the message in groups

1. Kilo / 09:20 Z: the message identifier and time. Keep the letter separate from the airport name.
2. ILS 14 / departure 28: arrivals expect an ILS approach to runway 14; runway 28 is stated for departures. Do not compress these into one undifferentiated runway number.
3. Transition level 70: record it as a flight level, FL70, rather than treating it as an altitude on QNH.
4. 070° at 4 knots, varying 010°–110°: separate direction, speed and directional variation. The variation is not a wind-speed range.
5. Visibility 8 km / touchdown zone 10 km or more: preserve both values and their labels. Neither is stated as runway visual range in this transcript.
6. FEW 700 / SCT 900 / BKN 1,100 ft: retain each cloud amount with its base. These mean few, scattered and broken cloud respectively.
7. Temperature +1°C / dew point −1°C: a missed minus sign changes the information.
8. QNH 1031 hPa / NOSIG: record the pressure separately. NOSIG indicates no significant change expected in the trend forecast; it does not promise unchanged conditions for the whole flight.

A compact note-taking example

KILO · 0920Z
ARR ILS 14 · DEP 28 · TL FL70
WIND 070° / 4 kt · VAR 010°–110°
VIS 8 km · TDZ 10 km+
FEW 700 · SCT 900 · BKN 1100 ft
T +1°C · DP −1°C · QNH 1031 hPa · NOSIG

This layout is a study aid, not a mandatory notation system. Use a format you can read back accurately. Leave a gap if you miss a value, then check it on the next repetition instead of guessing.

Check your understanding

1. Which information letter would you retain for your initial contact?
2. Which runway is expected for the arrival approach, and which is stated for departure?
3. Is 010°–110° the wind-speed range or the directional variation?
4. What are the QNH and dew point?
5. Does the transcript give the same visibility value for the airport and touchdown zone?

Answers: 1. Kilo. 2. ILS runway 14 for arrivals; runway 28 for departures. 3. Directional variation; the speed is 4 knots. 4. QNH 1031 hPa and dew point −1°C. 5. No: 8 km and 10 km or more respectively.

Turn the reading exercise into listening practice

1. Open the free ATIS comprehension recordings and prepare a blank note grid before starting the timed sample.
2. Listen for the message structure first. Capture key values with their labels and units rather than trying to write every word.
3. Say what you understood in your own words. Identify anything you would need to hear again or clarify.
4. Review recurring difficulties: similar-sounding numbers, unfamiliar accents, negative temperatures or switching between arrival and departure information.

Build the supporting radio skills

Use our ICAO phonetic alphabet guide to practise information letters and callsigns, and our aviation frequencies and numbers guide for numerical listening practice. During flight training, confirm operational procedures and readback requirements with your instructor.

If you can extract the numbers but struggle to explain what happened, one-to-one aviation English lessons can help you work on comprehension and plain English. For feedback on your performance in a practice assessment, explore the examiner practice test.