Different controllers doing it differently.

[awreaper]

Don't take this as a criticism because it is not intended to be that way. I know in real life this stuff happens too. I was flying VFR out of PSP the other evening and contacted ground first, specifying that I did not want flight following. I was advised to call clearance first. I did and after taking off and flying quite a way south, but still in the TRSA area, I requested to cancel flight following. I was told that they could not as I was in the TRSA area. Last night at PSP I called up clearance and was told it was not necessary to call clearance and to go ahead and contract ground. I asked for clarification and was told that unless I wanted flight following, there was no reason to contact clearance. Kind of confusing. I thought radar services in a TRSA was voluntary. Am I incorrect? I have not flown in to a TRSA in real life so....

[Kevin_atc]

Thank you for the inquiry. Would you please clarify your callsign and the time you called PSP last night?

[awreaper]

9853G and probably around 6 CST but not exactly sure.

[Peter Grey]

Hello,

Thanks for letting us know about this.

There are 2 separate events here that we looked into.

Regarding being told to contact Ground vs Clearance Delivery. In the real world there is variation on how this is handled at a TRSA, hence why we leave it a little variable. We are likely to lock this down soon however as it does seem to cause confusion (as you aren't the first to have this issue).

Regarding being told you can't cancel flight following in a TRSA the controller misspoke. The controller asked where you were heading and you stated back to PSP. So the controller wanted to keep you not because you were in a TRSA but because you were heading to PSP.

Regardless of that in a TRSA you always have the ability to cancel radar services. I'll talk to the controller about it.

[awreaper]

No problem Peter. I just wanted to make sure I am doing it the correct way. Thanks for checking on it. You guys are doing an outstanding job.