What Pilots Should Know About ATC, With Marcus Miller

By John Zimmerman
Mar 24, 2026
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Pilot's Discretion Podcast, episode 126

Air traffic controllers and pilots are on the same team, they just have different perspectives. Marcus Miller, a center controller and the creator of the PropHatCat TikTok channel, explains those differences and much more in this fast-paced episode, including: when to fly a piston airplane into an airline airport, how to ask for help as a student pilot, and what he thinks of all the jokes on guard frequency. He also talks about pursuing ATC as a career, including the role of simulators and the benefits of musical theater training. In the Ready to Copy segment, Marcus shares the number one misconception about ATC, his favorite Broadway show, and tips for pulling off magic tricks.

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Quotes:

How pilots and ATC think differently: “You want to accomplish your flight safely and efficiently, and you want to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Air traffic control also wants you to get from point A to point B as safely and efficiently as possible. But we're managing the big picture”
The right way for a controller to approach their job: “It's our responsibility to provide good customer service to the users.”
Why it’s OK to make mistakes on the radio: “learning how to fly is one thing, but learning how to speak aviation phraseology is a whole different animal. And there's not a lot of opportunities to practice until you're actually in the flight deck.”
Flying GA into big airline airports: “if you know you want to fly into Dallas or you want to fly into Houston or whatever, call that facility and be like, ‘hey, when would be a good time for me to fly in?’ You can just call the tower. You can just call the TRACON.”
When to ask for weather deviations: “it would be helpful if you tell us early because then we can make a plan.”
IFR departures from non-towered airports: “The worst thing would be departing VFR, but you can't climb above the MVA or the MIA or the MEA, because then our hands are tied. We can't really do anything with that”
Guard jokes: “you just kind of learn to listen to it, which kind of creates a possibly bad habit… whenever somebody does have an emergency or does have something happening, it takes you a little bit longer to recognize that.”
Using ATC simulators: “nobody wakes up one day is like, ‘I want to be in our traffic controller,’ you know. So having opportunities to experience what a controller could go through, I think is super beneficial.”
GA pilots’ #1 mistake: “Using the push to talk as a push to think.”
Reading between the lines: “The way that we say, ‘I have your request’ will determine if you're actually going to be able to get your request or not.”
ATC isn’t the police: “We want to get you off our scope as soon as possible. Any longer on our scope is just less efficient.”