Whether you’re an instrument rated pilot or not, there are times
when you will need to copy down a clearance from air traffic
control. And in the interest of time, the controller will give
you the clearance quite quickly – faster than you could possibly
write down the clearance verbatim. It is therefore critical as a
pilot to develop a system for copying down the clearance that
makes sense to you. The FAA has published a shorthand guide that
is quite useful. However, it didn’t work for me. Like many of
the mnemonics I used in school and during my pilot ground
training, I had to develop my own. The key is to have a symbol
or very short version for words and phrases used in clearances
that you can jot down as quickly as you can say them. It may be
a symbol or a short form of the word. As long as you can
decipher what you’re jotting down, it really doesn’t matter. You
can also categorize your clearance to help make sense of it. By
categorizing your clearance you don’t need to write down as much
to make sense of