We're PPR at my Aerodrome.
This basically means that we want you to ring us before you set off, and someone will take all your details. Callsign, type, departure aerodrome, POB, fuel and endurance and also how long your staying for and whether you require a refuel.
Calling on the radio is not really good enough but we'll let you come in if you do providing we're not too busy.
You'll also get a polite reminder when paying.
There are several reasons for this that I can think of:
1) We have very limited parking space and if your staying for a long period of time we will park you in a different position than if your here for a one hour stop and fuel.
2) It gives our controllers a very good idea of what to expect in traffic loading levels so they don't get caught short with a sudden influx of private pilots.
3) If you don't turn up or have a incident on the way, we can start overdue action and get someone to come and possibly save your life.
4) We can tell you about any unserviceabilities and bad weather before you set off. (Had a lot of these recently!!!!!)
5) We know you've actually bothered looking in the AIP and know a little about our aerodrome layout and traffic patterns.
There's nothing worse than a pilot reading back your instructions then flying straight through your busy circuit because they haven't got a clue where they should be and almost causing an accident.
6) If you have a radio fail on the way and suddenly turn up rocking your wings, we will know who you are and be able to gear up our fire section in case you have another emergency other than just a radio failure.
So if it says PPR ring up first, if they don't sound bothered then you've fuffilled your part of the bargin, but most of us appreciate that extra bit of effort and will find out as much as we can about your flight before you set off.
Needless to say if you've got an emergency, that all goes out of the window and we'll go to any length to try and help you get on the ground safely whether you haven't phoned or didn't even call on the radio.