Originally Posted by
MikeHatter732
I am still curious of your answer to this question, Dick.
In fact, I was so curious I planned a quick flight of similar length to your YTRY-YGDO, but in the land of the free using Skyvector/Foreflight (in numerous cities including Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco). All flights in similar length have similar frequency changing requirements to your one here in Australia (backed up by flying on the Garmin GNS430 simulator with an up to date Jeppesen package while monitoring the NRST ARTCC/FSS page).
.....and I'd like to see you explain how our charts are more cluttered than theirs - have you looked at their TAC's??!!. Almost got a migraine just looking at them).
I have a flight school near Sacramento in Northern California. At my school we train from private pilot certificate up to and including airline transport pilot certificate. We do multi engine training, instrument training and a few other thing such as tailwheel endorsements. In addition we operate our own maintenance business. I hold the following FAA certificates: Airline Transport Pilot (single and multi engine land) Flight Instructor airplane, single engine and multi engine, Instrument Instructor, Mechanic Certificate, Airframe and Powerplant as well as an Inspection Authorization. I hold similar Australian certificates and have flown extensively in both the USA and Australia.
Here in California there is very good radar coverage but it is not universal and there are times when flying even at quite high levels that ATC will tell a pilot who is getting an IFR service that radar contact has been lost. In other parts of the country radar coverage is less complete. There is a good uptake of ADS-B but still most aircraft are not equipped, particularly GA aircraft. I use Foreflight but I don't have, nor do I feel the need to have, ADS-B in.
On a typical VFR instructional flight we have the radio volume turned down so that we can concentrate on the lesson at hand. There is no frequency we are supposed to be monitoring unless we are in the traffic pattern at the airport. Although pilots typically make all the recommended radio calls, and there are only a handful of CTAF frequencies in use, frequency congestion is seldom a problem.
I have discussed the use of flight following with the Designated Pilot Examiner we most often use (on average we are doing 2 to 3 check rides per week) and he prefers candidates not to use it since it distracts from the test. Of-course, when accessing Class D or Class C airspace we do communicate with ATC. I personally use flight following when I'm flying in very congested airspace such as flying to the San Francisco area from here but I don't routinely use it in the Central Valley/Sacramento area.
I flew my Beech Duchess to Oshkosh last year, a round trip total of about 20 hours. As I, and most pilots flying VFR here do, I did not monitor any ATC frequency, including flight following for almost all of the trip. In fact, as you approach Oshkosh, the busiest airspace of the trip, the FAA specifically say that flight following is not available.
Flying IFR here is quite similar to what it is in Australia from a communications perspective. ATC sectors cover varying geographic areas or volumes of airspace depending on how busy they are. In quiet periods, ATC combine sectors but, unlike Australia, they don't use re-transmit so as a pilot you need to be mindful of potential over transmits.
In essence, not having frequency boundaries on the charts is a non-issue. If I need to call ATC I look for the nearest outlet and use that, but most of the time, like most pilots here, I don't want to monitor any ATC frequency unless I'm accessing an ATC service.