Flight Following and altitude changes
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:30 am
I always use Flight Following when flying VFR; I state "slant-golf" (the base Cessna skyhawk 172 with REP) and give my original intended flight altitude for the flight, e.g. 8500 ft.
When I encounter clouds at my altitude, in order to stay VFR, I change altitude (e.g. go down to 6500 ft) and I have always notified ATC. Until now, they always have answered "thank you", or "roger", often giving me the Altimeter setting.
However, during my last flight, I had to descend from 8500 to 6500, and then to 4500, and then to 2500. As I kept notifying/bothering ATC of my altitude changes, he finally told me that I should not tell ATC about altitude change (I have been doing that for 2 years!).
What is the best policy? Doesn't Flight Following need to know my altitude, for instance to warn me about other planes crossing my path?
If not, why do we have to specify our intended flight altitude when requesting flight following?
I am concerned about telling FF an intended altitude for the trip, but then flying at another (lower) altitude: couldn't that be a problem if FF (believing I am much higher than I am) does not tell me of a possible danger?
When I encounter clouds at my altitude, in order to stay VFR, I change altitude (e.g. go down to 6500 ft) and I have always notified ATC. Until now, they always have answered "thank you", or "roger", often giving me the Altimeter setting.
However, during my last flight, I had to descend from 8500 to 6500, and then to 4500, and then to 2500. As I kept notifying/bothering ATC of my altitude changes, he finally told me that I should not tell ATC about altitude change (I have been doing that for 2 years!).
What is the best policy? Doesn't Flight Following need to know my altitude, for instance to warn me about other planes crossing my path?
If not, why do we have to specify our intended flight altitude when requesting flight following?
I am concerned about telling FF an intended altitude for the trip, but then flying at another (lower) altitude: couldn't that be a problem if FF (believing I am much higher than I am) does not tell me of a possible danger?