PilotEdge Forums

Requesting flight following?

I noticed it says this in the beginning of the V-02 Transcript and wasn't sure.

Thanks
Denny

Exactly the same, just different wording.

Cheers, AJ

Thanks AJ,

Denny

This may be just a local preference here in the Albuquerque area, but at an Operation Raincheck meeting with approach controllers, one controller said approach's preference is for us to request "traffic advisories" when we'll be maneuvering locally, and "flight following" when we're flying to an airport out of the area. His reason was that the controllers key in the information differently in the two cases.

This is, however, not in line with other sources. For example, in the Pilot/Controller Glossary, the entry under "FLIGHT FOLLOWING" is: "See TRAFFIC ADVISORIES." AOPA also has an "Ask an ATC" page - the VFR page is at http://www.aopa.org/asf/askatc/VFR_Quests.html - and here is one of the Q/As:

"Q: I’ve heard pilots request both, but what is the difference between VFR flight following and traffic advisories?
A: There is no difference."

- Doug

Interesting!

Thanks Doug!

Doug, I'm a little confused by that controller's response. It seems like a very arbitrary distinction. If I requested "traffic advisories to Whiteman" or "flight following to Whiteman", or "flight following for a local flight within 20 miles of [insert airport name], or "traffic advisories within 20 miles of [insert airport name]," the intention appears to be clear in each case, regardless of whether I used "traffic advisories" or "flight following."

Yes, I agree. When I was first getting checked out to rent 172s at KAEG last summer, while I was airborne on the way to the practice area with the flight school instructor in the right seat, I called up ABQ Approach and requested "flight following for maneuvers in the northwest practice area." The approach controller jumped all over me: "flight following? Well, where are you going?!" The flight school instructor keyed the mic and said, "no - not flight following. Just requesting traffic advisories."

The exchange confused me, because I had learned that VFR flight following = VFR traffic advisories. Afterwards, I looked into it, and at least some of the approach controllers here had "failure" to specify which you were looking for when calling up as their pet peeve (?!). I decided my path of least resistance was to play along, because there wasn't any particular downside for me operationally or safety-wise, and for the approach controllers who didn't share that pet peeve, it didn't matter which I asked for.

- Doug

Now I'm confused

Guess it depends on where you fly at, cause here at my local fields when we are going over to the practice area everybody around here (Oklahoma) asks for flight following to the practice area. I had never heard requesting traffic advisories around here, that's why it looked foreign to me.

Denny

In the 7110.65 (controller bible), when you look up "flight following" in the glossary, it points you to "traffic advisories".

Probably just a local thing they have going. I understand why seeing as local VFR aircraft may be given different beacon codes compared to transiting VFRs.

Here's another wrinkle... One of the airports I often fly out of often includes the term "radar service" on their ATIS, for pilots to request. I try to conform to the local practices (if I can divine them).

FWIW, that tower is a contracted tower, and most of the daily traffic goes to the practice area. Next time I'm there, I'll stop by and ask them about this topic.

I generally use the terms radar service (or traffic advisories) for local practice area flights, and flight following for VFR point to point flights.

Gavin