I've recently had a discussion with my A&P/IA about this. He routinely hops
in his turbo arrow, and flies from Virginia to Key West VFR at 11000' without talking
to a soul. Right over top of Class-C and Class-B. What he says, (and I tend to agree
with him anymore), is if you talk to them, even if you're clear of their airspace,
they'll try to route you over hell and gone. Having flown under and over Chicago's
airspace, a number of times, you find this more often than not. Rather than
encouraging the additional safety of flight following, this really discourages working
with the approach controllers. Same thing talking with Milwaukee approach every time
I've gone up there. I'm coming lakeshore from the south, planning to go just outside
of their Class-C on my way in to Capitol, also just outside their Class-C. If I talk
to them, they'll route me 10 miles to the west, every time... even without traffic
conflict.

Of course, as you said, listening to some VFR pilots bumbling on the radio
like they're Smokey and the Bandit, it's no wonder why the controllers would rather
not talk to VFR pilots in general.

-Cory

Dan Luke wrote:

: "Chip Jones" wrote:
: In most locations, like in Houston, this controller
: attitude is pathetically laughable.

: Yes, it's bad in Houston; I never ask them for advisories anymore. Even
: if they do take you, they may fail to call traffic.

: But if you listen to their frequencies on a nice Friday afternoon, you
: can almost understand their attitude. The miserable radio technique of
: a lot of VFR pilots can really clog up the air. It's embarassing to
: listen to, sometimes.
: --
: Dan
: C172RG at BFM



--
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* The prime directive of Linux: *
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