When to acknowledge ATC

"John Galban" wrote in
Where do you fly where ATC doesn't give you the
setting on initial contact?

Almost every class B, C or D airport that I fly into.

So you're speaking almost exclusively about towers? That I can see. If the
ATIS is good, no need for the altimeter setting. Other than towers, you
should almost always be getting a setting on initial contact.

moo

Happy Dog wrote:

So you're speaking almost exclusively about towers? That I can see. If the
ATIS is good, no need for the altimeter setting. Other than towers, you
should almost always be getting a setting on initial contact.

Uh .... Just where do you fly that has an ATIS and *doesn't* have a tower?

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:1tUee.52$N_5.11@trndny09...
Uh .... Just where do you fly that has an ATIS and *doesn't* have a tower?

I think his point is that one can receive an altimeter setting from ATC at
times other than dealing with an arrival in or flight through airspace
related to a towered airport (and thus at times other than when an ATIS is
available to provide the altimeter setting).

Pete

Peter Duniho wrote:

I think his point is that one can receive an altimeter setting from ATC at
times other than dealing with an arrival in or flight through airspace
related to a towered airport (and thus at times other than when an ATIS is
available to provide the altimeter setting).

In that case, he can say so instead of claiming that I'm wrong when I say that I
don't do this. The only times I talk to ATC are when I intend to takeoff or land
from a controlled field.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:dkVee.641$14.196@trndny03...
[...]
In that case, he can say so instead of claiming that I'm wrong when
I say that I don't do this.

I suspect he misunderstood that you were referring to ONLY your own
experience. An understandable mistake given the sub-thread, IMHO. After
all, a single individual's experience has very little bearing on the overall
wisdom of reading back altimeter settings.

Yes, you specifically said "*I* rarely get..." but in context, that can
easily be interpreted as implying a general case, rather than being meant
for only the specific case.

Looking back over the past several posts in this sub-thread, it certainly
appears that there's a fair amount of mixed signals. Maybe someone
should've read back a post or two.

Pete

Peter Duniho wrote:

Looking back over the past several posts in this sub-thread, it certainly
appears that there's a fair amount of mixed signals. Maybe someone
should've read back a post or two.

Agree. I overreacted.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

"George Patterson" wrote in message

I think his point is that one can receive an altimeter setting from ATC
at times other than dealing with an arrival in or flight through airspace
related to a towered airport (and thus at times other than when an ATIS
is available to provide the altimeter setting).

In that case, he can say so instead of claiming that I'm wrong when I say
that I don't do this. The only times I talk to ATC are when I intend to
takeoff or land from a controlled field.

As I tried to make clear, a tower may not give you an altimeter setting
because you're supposed to listen to the ATIS. Granted. You used NYC
airspace as an example. How do you get into Class B without first talking
to Center, Departure or Approach? (All of them will set you up on contact.)
New York Centre won't hand you off to a tower 30 miles away and 20 miles
outside Class B. If you try to get a clearance from, say, La Guardia Tower
when you're 30 miles back, they won't give it to you. They will become
unhappy and tell you to contact approach. Approach isn't interested in
which ATIS you've been listening to. And, in NYC airspace, they're deeply
uninterested in you at all. They will give you an altimeter setting. Do
you really fly this airspace? Tell us the procedure you use for VFR into
NYC.

moo

Happy Dog wrote:

Tell us the procedure you use for VFR into NYC.

I stay under it for the most part. The one time I had to go through was when
they had that 1 mile TFR around the WTC site. I departed 3N6 to the north and
called Kennedy approach as soon as I passed 1,000'. They told me to stay clear
of the B and call Newark. I reached Newark approach over the Raritan bay and
they gave me a vector and altitude with a further report point. No altimeter
setting as I remember.

Going into or over other controlled fields like Trenton, Knoxville, Roanoke,
Raleigh, and Norfolk, I've never been given an altimeter setting when I told
them I had the ATIS information. I've been into each of the first four fields
quite a few times.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

"George Patterson"
Happy Dog wrote:

So you're speaking almost exclusively about towers? That I can see. If
the ATIS is good, no need for the altimeter setting. Other than towers,
you should almost always be getting a setting on initial contact.

Uh .... Just where do you fly that has an ATIS and *doesn't* have a tower?

Above, I said "other than towers". I've corrected the ambiguity of my
initial statement. Again:

"Other than towers, you should almost always be getting a setting on
initial contact."

Do you only talk to towers? Possible. But tricky in some places. Anyway,
are you saying you almost always stay below Class Bravo? Another post
indicated you don't. So what are you talking about?

moo

By regulation, Air Force pilots read back all altimeter settings. I
think its a good practice and continue to do so although not required
by civil regs. The only time I don't is when ATC blanket broadcasts a
new setting to all airplanes on freq.