Sun Apr 11, 2021 12:10 pm
#1839748
Occasionally I deliberately use QSY even in Canada and the US... if we ever lose our sense of humour we are truly lost.
The best air traffic control is the informal kind as it relaxes everyone, lowers the stress level, and improves efficiency and collaboration.
ATC is very different here to what it was thirty years ago, and in my opinion this is not a good thing.
Perhaps this formality is a factor in pilots being unwilling to call controllers when they are close to controlled airspace, and so it could be a factor in airspace infringements.
Being used to the less formal use of the radio in Canada, the US, and Thailand it has been a concern.
Redhill is much more formal than I am used to and something left out will solicit a remark from the tower. This is unhelpful.
I have made calls to ATC Supervisors in Canada when I have witnessed formal controllers raising the stress temperature over the air. They sit in their comfortable chairs while not knowing what may require a pilot’s better attention.
I have witnessed less formal, easy interchanges without so much formality, that have kept a comfortable efficient flow of traffic.
As for squawk codes. The listening squawk is a very good idea, especially if ATC is willing to help a potentially errant pilot from making a sinful airspace infringement.
In the Vancouver area aeroplanes are issued with individual squawk codes and you do not change these unless you are on the ground, say at Chilliwack, for more than a couple of hours.
But, when I am talking to Terminal, or Centre, I do announce to them, “...Golf India Papa Uniform squawking **** “ on initial contact.
Most often “...ident...” is requested when the pilot has made an obvious error in their position.
The best air traffic control is the informal kind as it relaxes everyone, lowers the stress level, and improves efficiency and collaboration.
ATC is very different here to what it was thirty years ago, and in my opinion this is not a good thing.
Perhaps this formality is a factor in pilots being unwilling to call controllers when they are close to controlled airspace, and so it could be a factor in airspace infringements.
Being used to the less formal use of the radio in Canada, the US, and Thailand it has been a concern.
Redhill is much more formal than I am used to and something left out will solicit a remark from the tower. This is unhelpful.
I have made calls to ATC Supervisors in Canada when I have witnessed formal controllers raising the stress temperature over the air. They sit in their comfortable chairs while not knowing what may require a pilot’s better attention.
I have witnessed less formal, easy interchanges without so much formality, that have kept a comfortable efficient flow of traffic.
As for squawk codes. The listening squawk is a very good idea, especially if ATC is willing to help a potentially errant pilot from making a sinful airspace infringement.
In the Vancouver area aeroplanes are issued with individual squawk codes and you do not change these unless you are on the ground, say at Chilliwack, for more than a couple of hours.
But, when I am talking to Terminal, or Centre, I do announce to them, “...Golf India Papa Uniform squawking **** “ on initial contact.
Most often “...ident...” is requested when the pilot has made an obvious error in their position.
MichaelP
Wandering the World
Wandering the World