Flight Following

Paul Tomblin wrote:

The appropriate response to an emergency is to talk to the person who
you're already talking to, because they already have a decent idea where
you are and where you're going and what type of plane you're in.

I've gotta agree there. 121.5 is for when you're not talking to
someone and don't immediately know who is the best contact. At times
when I'm not getting flight following, I stay tuned to the appropriate
Center or Approach frequency for the area in which I'm flying. Even if
I happen too be to low for ATC to hear me (quite common in the
mountains), I know that there are airliners overhead that will hear me.
If I need help, it's just a button push away.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...

In addition to the above, using Flight Following means that you are in
direct contact with ATC should you develop some sort of in-flight
emergency. You can therefore communicate that difficulty immediately
without having to search for the available and appropriate controlling
agency.


The appropriate response in an emergency is to dial up 121.5 and not worry
about who answers. :-)


Not if you're already receiving flight following. If you're on flight
following you're already talking to a controller that knows where you are.
There's no point in changing to 121.5.

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...

In addition to the above, using Flight Following means that you are in
direct contact with ATC should you develop some sort of in-flight
emergency. You can therefore communicate that difficulty immediately
without having to search for the available and appropriate controlling
agency.


The appropriate response in an emergency is to dial up 121.5 and not worry
about who answers. :-)



Not if you're already receiving flight following. If you're on flight
following you're already talking to a controller that knows where you are.
There's no point in changing to 121.5.

Agreed. See my reply to Paul. My point is that the alternative to FF
isn't trying to look up the "appropriate" frequency during an emergency,
it is to dial in 121.5. Obviously, if you are already talking to ATC
you don't change frequencies. This seemed so obvious as to not need
stating, but I guess at least a couple of people didn't catch that.

Matt

"Arnold Sten" wrote in message
...
*chop*
In addition to the above, using Flight Following means that you are in
direct contact with ATC should you develop some sort of in-flight
emergency. You can therefore communicate that difficulty immediately
without having to search for the available and appropriate controlling
agency.
A follow-up question, however: How do request flight following when you
are not actually doing a cross-country? Let's say that my flight
intentions are to fly 50 NM away from my home base in order do
sight-seeing and photo shooting, turn around (not land), and go back
home. Do I simply tell ATC of those intentions of doing nothing more
than a round robin flight? Whenever I have ask for FF, the controller
always asks for a destination. What are you supposed to say?

Arnold Sten

I had that scenario last spring, a guy wanted to fly from Columbus to an
area south of Dayton to photo a crop circle. When I got within about 20-25
miles, I got in touch with Dayton and told him my heading and roughly where
I was going. Once we spotted it, I just told him that we wanted to circle
(loiter) around our current position to do some aerial photography. He
advised us of nearby traffic a coulple of times, so we would just fly west
a little till they cleared out, Dayton being the busy place that it is. When
we were done, I just told him we wanted to depart 080 or whatever and he
advised us of traffic we may encounter on the way out.

--
Hello, my name is Mike, and I am an airplane addict....

" wrote in message
oups.com...
Can someone explain to a new pilot (who's never used it!) what flight
following is all about and how to actually get it? Thanks!

Flight following is a colloquial term for VFR radar traffic advisories (see
the AIM's Pilot/Controller Glossary). The concept is discussed in the AIM
section 4.1 (Services Available to Pilots), and the phraseology for
requesting it is discussed in section 4.2 (Radio Communications Phraseology
and Techniques). You can find the AIM online at
http://www.faa.gov/atpubs/AIM/index.htm.

--Gary

In article ,
says...

Besides traffic advisories, it also means you are in two-way communication
with a facility at all times. Some pilots find this a hassle. It's up to you.
Personally, I prefer to have someone at the other end of my PTT button as
much as possible, and the advisories are useful and reassuring - though I
agree with the caveat mentioned above - the callouts cannot be taken to
replace your own scan for separation. They're not required to give you
VFR flight following - you're supposed to ask "if available". Then, as
mentioned, it's "as workload permits".

G Faris

"Greg Farris" wrote in message
...
Besides traffic advisories, it also means you are in two-way communication
with a facility at all times. Some pilots find this a hassle. It's up to
you.

Good point. In some ways, that can actually *reduce* the communication
hassle. If you're headed for Class C or D airspace while getting flight
following, you're already in two-way communication with ATC, so you already
have permission to enter the airspace (unless ATC instructs you not to, of
course). And if you're headed for Class B, although you still need a
clearance there, ATC will often just volunteer the clearance when you're
getting flight following.

--Gary

"Gary Drescher" wrote in message
...
" wrote in message
oups.com...
Can someone explain to a new pilot (who's never used it!) what flight
following is all about and how to actually get it? Thanks!

Flight following is a colloquial term for VFR radar traffic advisories
(see
the AIM's Pilot/Controller Glossary).

Any idea how they came up with that term? How did they pick "following"
rather than something like "Flight Advisories"? Wouldn't that be more
descriptive and to the point?

"Matt Barrow" wrote in message
...

"Gary Drescher" wrote in message
...
" wrote in message
oups.com...
Can someone explain to a new pilot (who's never used it!) what flight
following is all about and how to actually get it? Thanks!

Flight following is a colloquial term for VFR radar traffic advisories
(see
the AIM's Pilot/Controller Glossary).

Any idea how they came up with that term? How did they pick "following"
rather than something like "Flight Advisories"? Wouldn't that be more
descriptive and to the point?

Alliteration perhaps?

--Gary

If you ever departed a class B or class C airport VFR, you had flight
following.

I start like this:

Me: Bradley Approach - N6480R request.

Bradley: N6480R - go ahead.

Me: Bradley Approacy - Cherokee 6480R is 5 miles south of Spencer, VFR to
Atlantic City at two thousand, climbing to four thousand five hundred.

Bradley: N6480R - squawk 5236 and ident.

Me: 5236

wait - wait - wait

Bradley: N6480R radar contact 6 miles south of Spencer, altimeter 2996.

Me: 2996

I now have flight following. Now the tough part is listening for when they
call you. You have to be paying attention for your call-sign. At some point
they will instruct you to contact someone else on another frequency, or will
terminate flight following.

I've never been denied flight following, but have been terminated when
moving from one center to another. From what I've been told, the controller
would rather have me on frequency than not.




" wrote in message
oups.com...
Can someone explain to a new pilot (who's never used it!) what flight
following is all about and how to actually get it? Thanks!