On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 11:42:31 -0400,
wrote:

On Wed, 9 Jun 2004 16:56:34 GMT, Bela P. Havasreti
wrote:

I'll try to be nice and say you are welcome to consider getting
flight following services "mandatory" whenever you fly.

My personal opinion, is that primary see & avoid techniques
are not being adequately taught these days, and (perhaps?)
too much emphasis is put on relying on systems (radios,
flight following, etc.).

Bela, there is a columnist who writes a monthly article for AVWeb. He
is a traffic controller for the Atlanta area. His name is Don Brown
and you should read his column number 37. The title is VFR in a
Vacuum, and the blurb goes: "Have you been turned down lately when you
asked ATC for VFR advisories? Expect it to happen more and more often,
especially when you and other pilots don't file a correct flight plan
or use the proper phraseology. AVweb's Don Brown points out how the
impending controller shortage will reduce the additional services ATC
can provide."

I think how you ask for flight following makes a world of difference.

I rarely file a flight plan in populated areas unless going IFR. OTOH
I will file if the weather if "Iffy", or I'm going to be flying over
relatively barren or rugged terrain...or the visibility is poor.

But as to flight following. I'm not so sure as the VFR flight plan
(which is a good idea) has as much to do with receiving flight
following as does how you ask for it.

I've found that a simple and relaxed request such as "MBS approach,
this is Debonair Eight Thirty Three Romeo out of Midland Barstow for
Muncie Indiana. I'd like flight following if you have time".

And example which the old timers on here have heard many times
already: A friend and I were both flying from 3BS to MIE. He left
about 20 minutes ahead of me and was flying at 8500 while I was at
6500.

I picked up flight following climbing out of 3BS and never had to
change the transponder until I shut down at MIE. I was handed off
from one approach to the next every time and to center a couple of
times.. My friend had to squawk 1200 and call the next approach
facility when leaving one and entering the next "every time".

So it appears that while requesting flight following is a good idea
for cross country flights, unless a lot of new controllers are brought
on line, it will be increasingly difficult for them to handle non IFR
requests.

Wait till you get a request something like: "If you have the time,
would you be willing to fly a practice PAR for us? We have a new
trainee who'd like to try one".

The difficult part is following the instructions when you can see they
are going to take you right through the localizer, or he's turning you
too soon. You really have to work to not make the appropriate
corrections. :-))

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

Corky Scott