Originally Posted by
desert goat
I’ve been through the Sale airspace in VFR lighties multiple times as well, and they were nothing but helpful. If your mate couldn’t get the clearance he wanted, it was almost certainly because there was another aircraft in the way. Perhaps offering to change level or hold for a couple of minutes could have helped? Sorry, but I find it difficult to believe that he “had no options”. The guys in the tower usually do want to help, but it’s a two way street.
You also need to remember it’s a training facility and some pilots don’t feel comfortable or aren’t experienced enough to know to ask them for options. You feel like ATC should be the ones that give you the options, not you offering them. The only other aircraft in the vicinity was mine, I was a good distance ahead and I was faster.
I’m not trying to say that mine is bigger, however I’ve been through there probably in excess of 200 times and rarely are the interactions the same. Whilst there is a playbook for ATC, there also a human element there and it’s the same for pilots, who knows what you’ll do or say on your next flight, then throw in the different weather each day.