VFR Flight Following -- What's going on here?

Don't pout, just be happy that they were concerned about your well-being.

If that's all there is to it, I am, indeed, happy that they are
watching out for us! Quite frankly I'm surprised.

Sorry to hear that you have had bad experiences with FF in your area...it is
a valuable tool that should be used by everyone.

We use flight following on most flights in our area. The only time
it's ever a problem is around (the very busy airspace of) Chicago,
where (ironically) we could most use FF.

Usually Chicago won't accept a hand-off from adjacent controllers, and
if we try to request FF they will reply "unable." Not that it really
matters -- I have had airliners pop in front of me so close that I
could read their logo, without Chicago ATC ever saying "boo" about it.


Really, the only time we ever use FF around Chicago is on those rare
occasions where they *will* accept a hand-off from an adjacent
controller, as they did on this flight. Usually they just "cut us
loose" as we approach Chicago and we just fly through the area
(obviously outside the Class Bravo) using our "Mark One" eyeballs.

Thanks for your response, Bob.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

We use flight following on most flights in our area. The only time
it's ever a problem is around (the very busy airspace of) Chicago,
where (ironically) we could most use FF.

Usually Chicago won't accept a hand-off from adjacent controllers, and
if we try to request FF they will reply "unable." Not that it really

They can't drop you if you're IFR. :-) (hint hint)

of course, there's no guarantee that you'll get a clearance either...

--
Guy

On 20 Jun 2005 10:59:18 -0700, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

Don't pout, just be happy that they were concerned about your well-being.

If that's all there is to it, I am, indeed, happy that they are
watching out for us! Quite frankly I'm surprised.

Did you keep the FF squawk code or go back to 1200?

Usually Chicago won't accept a hand-off from adjacent controllers,

Chicago center will accept handoffs, but Chicago approach probably
will not. Having said that, even if Center cancels your FF because of
no handoff, once you get near Approach's airspace, you can call
Approach and they will almost always provide flight following through
the area.

Did you keep the FF squawk code or go back to 1200?

Ah, good point. We kept squawking the code we were given till we
landed. I wonder if we had switched to 1200, if Chicago would have
seen that and figured out that we were landing (rather than crashing?)
in Rantoul?

Usually Chicago won't accept a hand-off from adjacent controllers,

Chicago center will accept handoffs, but Chicago approach probably
will not. Having said that, even if Center cancels your FF because of
no handoff, once you get near Approach's airspace, you can call
Approach and they will almost always provide flight following through
the area.

It seems like lately no one is accepting hand-offs from anyone along
the Lake Michigan shoreline. We flew to Wisconsin yesterday, and
Rockford wasn't able to hand us off to Milwaukee on the flight inbound.

On the flight westbound, later in the day, Milwaukee handed us off to
Rockford without difficulty, but they, in turn, cut us loose before we
even hit the Mississipi, which was very unusual -- especially on a
sleepy Sunday evening. (I swear, we were the only plane he was
handling.)

Usually RFD will seamlessly hand us off to Quad Cities approach. We
called up QC once we hit the Big Muddy, and they were able to handle us
without difficulty.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...

We use flight following on most flights in our area. The only time
it's ever a problem is around (the very busy airspace of) Chicago,
where (ironically) we could most use FF.

Usually Chicago won't accept a hand-off from adjacent controllers, and
if we try to request FF they will reply "unable." Not that it really
matters -- I have had airliners pop in front of me so close that I
could read their logo, without Chicago ATC ever saying "boo" about it.


What Chicago are you talking about? Your initial message dealt with Chicago
Center, now it sounds like you're talking about Chicago Approach.