T67M wrote:In the UK it's simply not possible unless you file IFR and fly inside controlled airspace for at least part of your flight. ie a Y or Z plan.
Why is it "not possible"? Other that bureaucracy and funding, which I've already conceded. Are we really saying that safety costs too much? I hope not...
It's not possible because using LARS units, you are talking to several different units who each have a comparatively small block of SSR codes allocated to them by the CAA which enables controllers at neighbouring units to recognise who is talking to a particular aircraft. With IFR flights inside CAS, the whole of the UK is allocated several code blocks by Eurocontrol which can be used by a flight starting at (say) Glasgow and going to (say) Istanbul without having to change, each code being allocated to a flight by a computer at one of the two Area Control Centres in the UK and automatically paired with the aircraft's callsign shown on its flight plan.
If a LARS unit were to allocate a code for the whole of a flight in UK airspace (say Exeter to Wick), the original unit would quickly run out of available codes as each code cannot be re-allocated until the flight is a considerable distance away (what distance this is I'm not sure but for instance Farnborough and Lakenheath were both allocated the '0400' block but this may have changed since I retired) and it would 'rob' adjacent units of the useful tool of being able to perceive who is talking to a particular track.
As 'flight following' is provided by an ARTCC or TRACON in the USA rather than by a unit at an en-route airfield, a similar code allocation system to IFR flights can be used for VFR flights participating in Flight Following.
By the way, did you know that, according to an article I read in the US 'Flyer' magazine, there is no requirement for US controllers to tell you that radar service is terminated if they should get busy and need to concentrate on their IFR traffic whereas in the UK, controllers
must inform you when radar service is terminated?
Sorry if the above sounds complicated but it's difficult to explain it to you pilots who are not also controllers.