What the heck does that mean? "procedural outer area" and then the part about "not requiring regulatory action"?!?
All I can say is I am glad I have the AOPA legal plan!!!
Procedural outer area as in 20NM from the class Charlie. See, you don't have to participate in this area if you stay clear of the Class C
terminal area.
The difference is the approach facility's airspace vs. the terminal airspace. You have to participate (two way comms) in the class C terminal area, but not outside of, it's just a good idea.
For example, I fly out of KTYQ just north of the IND class Charlie. If I'm just doing a VFR x/country I'll call up and say...
me: Indianapolis Approach, Cessna 23EF
apprch: Cessna 23EF go ahead
me: Cessna 23EF departed Indy Exec VFR to the south, 1,800 for 5500, landing Lunken Field (KLUK if needed), Cessna 172.
apprch: 3EF roger, squak XXXX, stay at or below 3000 expect 5500 when clear of class Charlie, proceed oncourse.
me: At or below 3000, proceed oncourse, 3EF.
I could not call and skirt the Class C, but that would be out of my way. Sometimes I get sent out of my way even I do call. Either way I like to get advisories and put approach control in the loop of what I'm doing around there airspace.
One more thing... It's kind of neat to be vectored right over the airport with arrivals and departures going on right below you. If you shy away from using ATC services I think you're missing out on a lot.
Also, when you call them up for the first few times I'd have a pencil ready. It really helped me out in the beginning. I've been known to have a brain dump from the time I repeated the freq, xponder code, heading to atc, to when I tuned it, bugged it, or set it.
With everything in flying -slow is smooth, and smooth is fast-. I've found when I tried to hurry things up I took more of their, and my time.
