jollyroger
Pre-Flight
Falling into the "I can't believe I never thought of this before" category. I depart from KWVI IFR once and a while and call up Nor-Cal on the local RCO frequency to get my clearance. Works just fine.
I've read recently that it is advisable to request flight following from ground at towered airports to help the controllers coordinate your flight. Makes sense but I have a Bay Tour coming up and it got me to wondering if I should request flight following on the ground before departing on the RCO since we don't have a tower.
I'm not sure if the advantages are the same since at non-towered airports there is no hand off between the local tower and approach so I don't know if requesting ahead of time offers any benefit, or even if it increases the workload on the controller since they now have to look for you when you are not even in the air yet.
Any of you controllers/pilots out there have an opinion or experience in that regard?
I've read recently that it is advisable to request flight following from ground at towered airports to help the controllers coordinate your flight. Makes sense but I have a Bay Tour coming up and it got me to wondering if I should request flight following on the ground before departing on the RCO since we don't have a tower.
I'm not sure if the advantages are the same since at non-towered airports there is no hand off between the local tower and approach so I don't know if requesting ahead of time offers any benefit, or even if it increases the workload on the controller since they now have to look for you when you are not even in the air yet.
Any of you controllers/pilots out there have an opinion or experience in that regard?