Originally Posted by
ShyTorque
You won't get much joy if you try calling for start at many UK airports without booking out in advance.
Absolutely - and hence my original question.
In my (limited) experience, the controller at such an airport will do their best not to sound too tetchy when they say "G-ABCD, Anytown Tower. Have you booked out? I don't have a strip for you." This is responded to with anything from apologetically (the pilot shuts down and toddles off to book out over the phone) to with a great deal of bluster and indignance ("Do you know who I am? Can't you just take my booking now?!"). The latter sometimes results in very long waits at holding points...
Anyway, my query was:
what is the best way to find out whether or not booking out over the phone is customary at aerodrome x and if so, what's the process? I think Jonathan's response was the most reliable for my purposes - phone the ops number published on the AIP and ask.
I'm still interested in what happens in other countries. It seems that the norm in many places is to book out over the radio, which must either be quite an overhead for the controller or mean that less information is recorded than the "PYM" type (plus fuel endurance) stuff asked at my local.
Thanks for all your input.