Not sure how to take that. Even though I'm just young and starting out at 23, I'm mature enough not to take that as a personal attack.
Here's my point: Is what I say required? Because it's not in the AIM essentially no... Does it clog the frequency and cause controllers heartache? Probably not....For what I do and the airspace I fly in everynight does it help me get to where I'm going faster? FOR SURE! And therefore regardless of my birth certificate I will continue whether or not other pilots on the same frequency find it annoying or useless info.
As far as stating direct XXX on intial callup. I will do this if I'm on something I've been previously assigned but is not what my filed flight plan states.
The part where I don't see the arguement against stating this is when that arguement brakes down when each of you state you do this at some point if your not getting what you want. Does that not clog the frequency??? Or does clogging the frequency not count when the AIM beholders feel its neccessary.
[rant]
I'm not one to step on the feet of those who have done this longer then me. I have nothing but respect for my senior pilots. But in turn I would like some respect extended my way based on my abilities not on what my birth certificate says.
[/rant]
There is a time and place to do a LOT of things that aren't in the books. For a lot of them, that's what 91.3 authority is written for, but there are obviously times when you have to deviate from some standard practices that aren't regulatory to make things work. There is a time to use non-standard phraseology (assuming the controller is actually English speaking, of course).
The issue I had with your post is that you stated or implied that you do it EVERY time. That doesn't imply consideration of why you are doing it, it implies rote doing something, more likely because somebody else TAUGHT you to do that, rather than because it actually is the RIGHT thing to do. "Right" doesn't necessarily always mean verbatim "correct" by the AIM or any other guidance material, but it does require you to justify that deviation on a case-by-case basis, and not just do it every time.
Your argument reminds me of certain Captains that add a certain amount of extra fuel every time, regardless of the weather or availability of alternates, or maybe those that refuse to take a certain alternate, regardless of weather, for unknown reasons (usually because they lack a complete understanding of how the system works). In this particular example, quite a few add the "heading" because they, specifically, misunderstand how the system works. This thread did a nice job of explaining how it works. The idea is that you take that knowledge and apply it.
Finally, as most know from other postings, be it about those that persist on insisting that lift is "partially Newton" to proper phraseology, I do continually rant against those that promote things that are incorrect. It is one of the big problems with GA, and one of the reasons that majors will continue to prefer military pilots, as there are a lot more of these things passed down in GA and no QA to fix it (not withstanding the inane use of many former military of saying "on-the-hold" when they mean "position and hold"). It is sad that we see GA pilots defending this!
So, deviate when you have to, but have a concious reason for each specific occurrence, and not just a "because it's worked in the past" sort of response. As Doug can afirm, this comment applies to a lot of airline situations, and I have spent enough time sitting at the long table as one of the guys asking questions of the pilot, with those glasses of water in front of us, to know how the system works!
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Seems like we owe them the same courtesy.
And, yes the bolded part is my entire goal every time I hit the transmit button.
