Should you tell Tower you're departing IFR

"KP" nospam@please wrote:
But if 99.9% of the traffic a local controller handles is VFR spamcans then
99.9% of the time when a spamcan calls for takeoff the response is going to
be "Cleared for takeoff." Usually without even looking for a strip since
many towers don't make strips for VFR.

I fly out of HPN, a busy Class D with everything from scheduled airlines to
two flight schools doing primary training. CD generally tells spam cans to
"advise tower and ground you're IFR".

Should the tower already know I'm IFR without my having to remind them? Of
course they should. But it doesn't cost me anything to play along with
their request, so why make a big deal out of it?

Roy Smith wrote:
"KP" nospam@please wrote:

But if 99.9% of the traffic a local controller handles is VFR spamcans then
99.9% of the time when a spamcan calls for takeoff the response is going to
be "Cleared for takeoff." Usually without even looking for a strip since
many towers don't make strips for VFR.


I fly out of HPN, a busy Class D with everything from scheduled airlines to
two flight schools doing primary training. CD generally tells spam cans to
"advise tower and ground you're IFR".

Should the tower already know I'm IFR without my having to remind them? Of
course they should. But it doesn't cost me anything to play along with
their request, so why make a big deal out of it?

I think one of the controllers among us said that towers in class D may,
in fact, not know your flight plan type.

Matt

"John Clonts" wrote in
:

Ok, that makes sense! Although I now recall that the other time I had
had something similar happen (i.e. "Are you IFR"), it was departing
from Austin (class C). Oh, well...

And to confuse things more, SGR used to be Class G. It stunned me the
first time I called them up (by phone) to check on procedures when they
first opened the tower, and they told me the airspace was still Class G.
It stayed that way for a few years, and then it went to Class D.

--
Regards,

Stan

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." B. Franklin

Roy Smith wrote:

I fly out of HPN, a busy Class D with everything from scheduled airlines to
two flight schools doing primary training. CD generally tells spam cans to
"advise tower and ground you're IFR".

Should the tower already know I'm IFR without my having to remind them? Of
course they should. But it doesn't cost me anything to play along with
their request, so why make a big deal out of it?

Complying with an instruction to "notify tower..." is one thing. Being expected
to do so in the absence of an instruction is another. OTOH, there's that pesky
AIM reference I hadn't been aware of until this thread.

Dave

Complying with an instruction to "notify tower..." is one thing. Being expected
to do so in the absence of an instruction is another. OTOH, there's that pesky
AIM reference I hadn't been aware of until this thread.

Hello Dave,

Sorry, I can't seem to find that "pesky AIM Reference" in the thread,
could you be more specific?
--
Thanks,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ

"Dave Butler" wrote in message
news:1127825023.200293@sj-nntpcache-5...
Roy Smith wrote:

I fly out of HPN, a busy Class D with everything from scheduled airlines
to two flight schools doing primary training. CD generally tells spam
cans to "advise tower and ground you're IFR".

Should the tower already know I'm IFR without my having to remind them?
Of course they should. But it doesn't cost me anything to play along
with their request, so why make a big deal out of it?

Complying with an instruction to "notify tower..." is one thing. Being
expected to do so in the absence of an instruction is another. OTOH,
there's that pesky AIM reference I hadn't been aware of until this thread.

If it helps to keeps things running smoothly then I am all for telling the
tower. After is it not the case that communicate is one of the three
essentials in flying after aviate and navigate.

Its not as though is going to cost anything to say it.

John Clonts wrote:
Complying with an instruction to "notify tower..." is one thing. Being expected
to do so in the absence of an instruction is another. OTOH, there's that pesky
AIM reference I hadn't been aware of until this thread.


Hello Dave,

Sorry, I can't seem to find that "pesky AIM Reference" in the thread,
could you be more specific?

Oops, I think I mixed up this thread with another one, the one about calling for
your clearance before engine start. Sorry. Never mind.

Dave

Chris wrote:

If it helps to keeps things running smoothly then I am all for telling the
tower. After is it not the case that communicate is one of the three
essentials in flying after aviate and navigate.

Its not as though is going to cost anything to say it.

If it helps to keeps things running smoothly then it should be a published best
practice, rather than something I find out about on r.a.i.

Having listened in on and participated in a lot of IFR departures where there
was no announcement of intent to commit IFR, I am reluctant to concede that it
helps to keeps things running smoothly.

In the absence of a specific instruction like "inform tower..." I'd put it in
the category of nonstandard radio procedure, along with "any traffic please
advise" and "with you".

Roy Smith wrote:
Should the tower already know I'm IFR without my having to remind them? Of
course they should. But it doesn't cost me anything to play along with
their request, so why make a big deal out of it?

Exactly!

I've gotten into the habit of telling ground that I'm VFR on my initial
callup. It helps them choose a departure runway (CDW usually runs
simultaneous ops on two intersecting runways), and it doesn't really cost
anything to add, say, "VFR Westbound" to my initial callup.

After a couple of flights where the tower asked me my direction of flight,
after I had already told ground, I realized that communication between ground
and tower isn't all it should be. Now I add those two words to my callup
to the tower, too, unless the frequency is really busy.

.... Alan

--
Alan Gerber
gerber AT panix DOT com

Alan Gerber wrote:
After a couple of flights where the tower asked me my direction of flight,
after I had already told ground, I realized that communication between ground
and tower isn't all it should be. Now I add those two words to my callup
to the tower, too, unless the frequency is really busy.

Ground and tower have different reasons to wanting to know where you're
going. Ground wants to know which runway to send you to (especially if
your request is for closed traffic). The tower wants to know which way
you're going to turn after departure, so he can plan his traffic flow and
perhaps give you departure instructions.