Flight Following "Pro Tips"

I prefer to just teach people to fly correctly - much better then "flying like the pros" incorrectly.
 
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Henning said:
Granted while I'll typically ask for a squawk, I accept 'beacon code' as more proper phraseology for a transponder code.
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N424CR: "Oakland Center, Corvalis 424CR, just off Paso Robles, can I get a beacon code please? Again, the call sign is Corvalis 424CR."

ZOAK: "Corvalis 424CR, Oakland Center, yes sir. Squawk 1200. Have a nice day."


If you want flight following don't ask for a squawk, don't ask for a beacon code, ask for flight following.

N424CR: "Oakland Center, Corvalis 424CR, just off Paso Robles, request flight following to Bakersfield."
 
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shouldn't we be asking for VFR advisories?
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Yeah, and I'd love to know how he managed to get that. Who chooses the CFI of the year?

And that reminds me. Mossy owes me a burger - He lost a bet he made over something he said on Twitter. See Attachment - Last line was the blatantly incorrect info... Note also the top 3 posts.
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NAFI I think. I think he owes you a burger and he owes all of us a few drinks.
 
jesse said:
I prefer to just teach people to fly correctly - much better then "flying like the pros" incorrectly.
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As do I. I find it amusing how many "pros" do it wrong.
 
denverpilot said:
OMFG. I made it to "this is one of the best examples"...
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I did a fair amount of research on this and I was never able to find where fuel came into the equation? I even listened to the entire approach tapes... nothing.
I also looked at his routing and it was more or less direct and East bound.

How did "Mossy" come up with a fuel emergency, did I miss something?
 
Alexb2000 said:
I did a fair amount of research on this and I was never able to find where fuel came into the equation? I even listened to the entire approach tapes... nothing.
I also looked at his routing and it was more or less direct and East bound.

How did "Mossy" come up with a fuel emergency, did I miss something?
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How he came up with fuel emergency is a mystery to me as well. Nor do I understand his praise for the pilot that declared the emergency. There was nothing that fit the definition of emergency, he just needed a different runway due to the wind.
 
Does anyone know what ended up happening to the pilots? I think they pushed PIC a little too far.
 
roncachamp said:
How he came up with fuel emergency is a mystery to me as well. Nor do I understand his praise for the pilot that declared the emergency. There was nothing that fit the definition of emergency, he just needed a different runway due to the wind.
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Something tells me that when an airline pilot decides to make a decision like that, and forces it so heavily on ATC, that there was likely an actual risk to their flight. I doubt they did it for "fun".
 
jesse said:
Something tells me that when an airline pilot decides to make a decision like that, and forces it so heavily on ATC, that there was likely an actual risk to their flight. I doubt they did it for "fun".
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Do you think they should have identified that risk to ATC?
 
roncachamp said:
Do you think they should have identified that risk to ATC?
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Perhaps they already did - I don't know - it could have all been out of context. Or perhaps the issue was something else entirely and their hands were full.
 
Today got even better.

He posted on FB congratulating his buddy for signing up for ATP's zero-to-hero all-ratings from 85 hour Private Pilot to ATP in 90 days program.

When the commentary leaned toward the negative he said ATP's instructors "teach to a higher level".

I almost spit soda all over my truck since I was reading that from my iPhone in a parking lot.

Wow.
 
Yeah. As in the ALL ATPs guy says to me, when I ask for a C2 computer to do the Mach calculation fuel burn on the Hawker from John Wayne to SDL, "Memorize the answer. I don't do mach".

Yeah.
 
denverpilot said:
Today got even better.

He posted on FB congratulating his buddy for signing up for ATP's zero-to-hero all-ratings from 85 hour Private Pilot to ATP in 90 days program.

When the commentary leaned toward the negative he said ATP's instructors "teach to a higher level".

I almost spit soda all over my truck since I was reading that from my iPhone in a parking lot.

Wow.
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Wait -- PP to ATP in 90 days? They flying a Champ from Georgia to Arizona and back each day?
 
bbchien said:
Yeah. As in the ALL ATPs guy says to me, when I ask for a C2 computer to do the Mach calculation fuel burn on the Hawker from John Wayne to SDL, "Memorize the answer. I don't do mach".

Yeah.
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Maybe he's part of Flying 3.0! ;)

(Since 2.0 is already taken...)

LOL.

Just playing with the numbers here...

$555 a day.

170 hours of ME time (note: they DO NOT say ME PIC time, these kids swap seats every leg...)... $295/hr.

Or as Master Yoda would put it...

I foresee large government student loans in forebearance in your future, young Skywalker.
 
Just back to the beacon code thing for a moment.

For flight following I generally use something like the following and never have an issue with them understanding what I want

"XXX Approach, Callsign, Request"
Callsign, XXX Approach, say request/go ahead....

If busy freq:
Callsign, aircraft type, X miles X of X, VFR for destination

If moderate chatter
"Callsign, aircraft type, X miles X of X, <current altitude>, request flight following for <destination>"

If including bravo transition
Callsign, aircraft type, X miles X of X, <current altitude>, request bravo clearance and flight following for <destination> at <final altitude>

Any issues with my approach?
 
OzPilot said:
Just back to the beacon code thing for a moment.

For flight following I generally use something like the following and never have an issue with them understanding what I want

"XXX Approach, Callsign, Request"
Callsign, XXX Approach, say request/go ahead....

If busy freq:
Callsign, aircraft type, X miles X of X, VFR for destination

If moderate chatter
"Callsign, aircraft type, X miles X of X, <current altitude>, request flight following for <destination>"

If including bravo transition
Callsign, aircraft type, X miles X of X, <current altitude>, request bravo clearance and flight following for <destination> at <final altitude>

Any issues with my approach?
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No issues. That said, there is no reason to add "request" on the initial call. Some folks say "VFR request" and I suppose that makes a little sense because the controller might not look for a strip. My perspective is that they get so many VFR calls that they expect them.

Stick with the who, where, what ya want, and go from there after initial call.

All that typed, ATC is pretty darn good at figuring out what we want and giving us what assistance they can. (roncachamp excepted).
 
TripleZ said:
Holy balls. That just screams information overload to me. But if you fly every day all day...... I wonder if you would retain more.
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Wrong, it's the other way around. The information is limited to that specifically required to pass the exam. With that method a 90 day ATP is possible without info overload. It also leaves you short on knowledge and experience beyond the minimum you can get away with.
 
On the "Fuel Emergency" - didn't this happen a couple of months ago? I had thought that it was published that fuel was the cause for the declared emergency at that point in time, in which case that's probably where he came up with it.

As to the video, I don't like his teaching style much at all. I think that the "Flight Following" is worse than the fuel video, though.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
On the "Fuel Emergency" - didn't this happen a couple of months ago?
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No - this happened a couple years ago; May 2010. It appears to have had nothing to do with it being a fuel emergency - the PIC apparently didn't like the tail/crosswinds. Here is an Avweb article on the incident:

http://www.avweb.com/blogs/insider/AVwebInsider_EmergencyAtJFK_202513-1.html

And here is a different video posted closer to the time it occurred with a lot more user comments from then till the present:

 
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