I Never Ask for Flight Following

[Arnold]

Another thread prompted this little rant.

I never ask for flight following I do ask for Traffic Advisories.

These quotes are not exact but are based on an example from another thread. I don't identify the OP because I don't think it is necessary and I don't mean to be picking on anyone, I do however think the issues need attention.

Once during my private training I used flight following to transition Bravo,

If you were in class Bravo airspace you were not receiving "flight following." You were operating on a clearance assigned by ATC.

Departing ABC shortly after I got my Private, I called Ground and requested taxi for departure. Ground asked if I wanted radar advisories and I said yes. At the time, I didn't know that meant I wanted flight following

And shame on your instructor/ground school for not teaching you proper phraseology.

The phrase "flight following" appears six times in the AIM:

4-1-21(d) Cape Cod and Islands Radar Overwater Flight Following.
5-1-8(c)(4) Which applies to IFR flights and is used in a completely different sense than the concept of VFR "flight following."
5-5-11(b)(4) Which applies to IFR flights conducting visual approaches and is used in a completely different sense than the concept of VFR "flight following."
6-2-7(f)(1)(a) Search and Rescue emergency and overdue aircraft. This is the only place (except for the pilot controller glossary - which I'll get to in a minute) where the FAA seems to acknowledge the use of "flight following" as an analog to "advisories"
10-2-1 Offshore Helicopter Operations
10-2-4 Emergency Medical Service Multiple Helicopter Operations.

The phrase in the Pilot Controller Glossary is undefined but does refer one to the Traffic Advisories entry.

Traffic Advisories -Advisories issued to alert pilots to other known or observed air traffic which may be in such proximity to the position or intended route of flight of their aircraft to warrant their attention.

Because the phrase "flight following" is undefined AND refers directly to a clearly defined phrase, I believe the proper phraseology is to use the defined term.

"Philadelphia approach, bugsmasher 234N 2 west of Wings enroute to New Garden at 2,500 feet request traffic advisories"

By the way, the phrase "radar advisories" stated in the OP's pseudo quote is not defined in the Pilot Controller Glossary, but is mentioned once in the AIM with regard to VFR aircraft. That mention is to remind pilots that pilots are responsible for getting clearances into class B,C,D, airspace even while receiving radar advisories.

Because traffic advisories can be given in both a radar environment and in a non-radar environment, the controller's use of the phrase "radar advisories" in the initial quote was proper since it clearly explained that radar would be used to provide the advisory service, rather than non-radar techniques such as position reporting.

 

[Jim Logajan]

"Flight following" and "flight watch" are two terms that, to me, could be used to describe the same thing, so found their co-existence annoying when I first learned of their meanings.

 

[Jim Logajan]

"Flight Watch" is exclusively for weather. I don't understand why there would be any confusion.

Bob Gardner

I'm the first to admit to being slow to understand things, but what I meant by my post is that when I first encountered the phrases "flight following" and "flight watch" there was nothing inherent in the semantics of the words used in those phrases that distinguished them from each other. The words in the phrases do not leap out and say "use this phrase for calling up weather advisories and this phrase for calling up traffic advisories." In my humble opinion you could swap their meanings and not contradict their minimalist meanings.

Even "Enroute Flight Advisory Service" manages to avoid describing what kind of advisories are involved. (The words "traffic" and "weather" must cost extra.)

I do not have problems distinguishing them - once I realized I'd have to use simple rote memorization of the phrase meanings. It was just one more annoying thing I noted during training.

 

[Jim Logajan]

If I knew I wouldn't have asked.

Just curious, but what is your own preference as a controller with regard to VFR pilots announcing altitude changes while they are under flight following?