still issues with pilots stepping on each other?

[Thomas_Horn]

I am flying almost daily on PE, nowadays mostly in ZLA, and usually in the morning - which is afternoon in Europe.
Quite often I observe the controller being kind of annoyed when pilots are stepping on each other, but from a pilot point of view, I do not know how to avoid it to a 100%. Often, I do not hear any transmissions on the frequency, so I go ahead with my IFR clearance request, and then comes the controller response like "guys...again three people at the same time". I understand of course that it very difficult for the controller to handle multiple incoming calls, and would love to help, but how can I avoid this situation? Of course I know that I need to wait when an IFR clearance is ongoing, to let the pilot do the read back, but what when the "line" is apparently free?

Thanks, Thomas

[Keith Smith]

The controller is saying "three at once" not necessarily to imply that people did something wrong (often it is unavoidable, same in real life, if 3 people are initiating a cold call at the same time...such as 3 ppl calling at once for taxi at JFK when the ground freq is clear). The controller might be saying that simply to let people know that he/she may not have been able to pick up exactly who was calling. It's also a sign to anyone else who was thinking of calling to wait until the 3 other aircraft get addressed, etc.

There isn't much you can do other than what you're doing already by the sounds of things. Solider on.