"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in
ups.com:


A Lieberma wrote:

Ummm, situational awareness comes to mind???? A pilot bumbling around
a
busy airport and not seeing the airport sure sounds like an emergency
situation developing to me.


We're not talking about busy airports. Busy airports have Class B or C
airspace. Since we're talking about flight following we're limited to
airports in Class D, E, and G airspace.

Plenty of busy UNcontrolled and D class airports underlay the shelfs of B
and C....

Nonsense. Not seeing the airport doesn't mean you're lost, it just
means you haven't sighted the airport yet.

From my point of view, if you have not sighted the airport from a few
miles out (my definition of a few is 2 to 3 miles), either you are in
conditions that you shouldn't be in (below VFR) or you are situationally
lost. As you know, in a typical C172 speed, that is only 1 to 1 1/2
minutes to the airport, far too short to be properly entering a pattern
(especially if the airport has non standard patterns, such as right
turns).

I'm trying to say there's no reason for a controller to advise aircraft
on flight following to report the field in sight. Such a report has no
purpose. When you get close to the field, say ten miles or so, you
should be talking to the tower or on CTAF, not on flight following.

Now, we are getting somewhere, and yes, I do agree with you.

Unfortunately, when KJAN is busy, releasing me 10 miles out from KMBO in
Charlie airpsace when traffic is using 16L is not exactly a good idea. I
have been held on frequency by approach up to 5 miles to the airport when
approaching KMBO from the east or north east. Coming from the south, you
won't be released by approach until you are passed the final approach
courses for 16R and 16L.

Personally, knowing where my own airport is, I don't have any problems
being released early, but when I go to airports I am not familiar with,
then I'd rather have the controller hold on to me until I get a visual.
Airport advisories such as xxxx 8 miles 12 o'clock are always appreciated
even though I already may have this info on my GPS.

So, while you may not see the reason for a controller to ask a VFR
traffic to report airport in sight, doesn't mean it's a useless request.

Plus, it may be a confort factor to the controller knowing the pilot does
have the airport in sight before turning him over to CTAF (or tower).

Allen