Don't be this guy...

MikeD said:
Who actually wastes their time with VFR flight following? Being as low priority as it is, and the fact it doesn't really buy me anything, I don't ever bother with it.
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I do it because my company wants me to do it on our VFR legs (which is kinda up to the pilot/wx. I generally go IFR with a few exceptions). Otherwise, I wouldn't even bother unless I'm flying around busy airspace (like Socal).
 
Avgirl said:
In all fairness, he is a flight instructor, an arrogant and not so smart one, but anyway... so he could have had a student in the plane and it was a lesson? That's all I can think of.
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I feel bad for the poor souls who have to fly with him
 
Roger Roger said:
To be fair if there is a final that puts traffic right at the bottom of the B, wouldn't it make more sense to modify they B than to complain about folks who are staying outside it?
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That's what PHX did. They modified the floor under final a few hundred feet lower than it used to be, and extended the surface area a mile or so further out. Worked out great.
 
I don't bother with ARTCC VFR flight following, but at the same time I don't do the annoying things that give ATC big question marks wondering what's going on either.

TUS always wants to retain me when I'm operating below the shelf doing work, but I'm outside/under radar's airspace. A pain because I have tactical radios to monitor and having to listen to tons of ATC comms when I'm not in their airspace, is added unnecessary radio comms.
 
MikeD said:
I don't bother with ARTCC VFR flight following, but at the same time I don't do the annoying things that give ATC big question marks wondering what's going on either.

TUS always wants to retain me when I'm operating below the shelf doing work, but I'm outside/under radar's airspace. A pain because I have tactical radios to monitor and having to listen to tons of ATC comms when I'm not in their airspace, is added unnecessary radio comms.
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Yeah, you're a little different than a CFI/student or ferrying an airplane cross country.
 
MikeD said:
I don't bother with ARTCC VFR flight following, but at the same time I don't do the annoying things that give ATC big question marks wondering what's going on either.

TUS always wants to retain me when I'm operating below the shelf doing work, but I'm outside/under radar's airspace. A pain because I have tactical radios to monitor and having to listen to tons of ATC comms when I'm not in their airspace, is added unnecessary radio comms.
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Ask TUS if they can give you a discrete frequency to monitor for traffic or whatever. If TUS knows what they're doing they'll only key up that freq when they need to talk to you and you won't have to listen to everything else.
 
NovemberEcho said:
I prefer you get flight following if for no other reason I know wtf you're doing and don't have to guess and vector all around you. Especially those donkey holes who fly 100' under the bravo through final squawking 1200. One day I just want to not see one and fly a 777 right over them. Also bad is the 1200's who fly at a hard altitude rather than +500. I seriously hate those pilots with a burning passion.
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I'll always request flight following for this reason while transitioning through corridors or under bravo (which I try to limit regardless), especially in Houston where there's considerable traffic.
 
Constellation said:
I'll always request flight following for this reason while transitioning through corridors or under bravo (which I try to limit regardless), especially in Houston where there's considerable traffic.
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If you're not in the B or intending to be, PHX generally doesn't have the time to work you. So I don't bother them. I'll monitor the appropriate freq for SA, but I won't bug them for radar ID and a squawk when they're already pretty busy, and I'm not inside their airspace to begin with, nor intending to be.
 
Acrofox said:
Are you joking?

-Fox
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I don't bother with it, for the reasons I've cited, when it comes to a terminal area or near one (unless required), but enroute with ARTCC? Sure, I can see more value there.

Know when my closest near-midair was? When under VFR flight following with a busy TRACON at a peak time, and outside their airspace. No traffic callout for another VFR aircraft. When queried, the busy controller said he didn't see the traffic on his scope and was busy with the IFRs he was working (which he was, you could definitely tell), and he's absolutely right. I was lowest priority for him, as per the terms of service for VFR flight following. So no, I don't bother with it in a busy terminal area, nor when it isn't feasible. But I do monitor the appropriate freqs and keep the head on a swivel.

Some people like it, great. Others, it's a false sense of security depending on when its being utilized. Heck, much of the time I'm too low for enroute following anyway.
 
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