Originally Posted by FlyingForFun
Hope you don't mind a pilot sticking his nose in here.
I always comply with ATC instructions unless there's an overriding safety issue not to (and that applies even outside controlled airspace, where the controller can not legally give me an instruction, but I figure if he's telling me to do something there's a good reason for it).
However, I don't mind "suggesting" to the controller an alternative course of action in some circumstances. An example might be that I am downwind in a left-hand visual circuit, ready to turn base, when the controller instructs me to orbit and position behind traffic on right base. If I can see the traffic on right base, and he's a little wider than me and maybe a little slower, I might suggest to the controller that I can keep it tight and position number one. If the controller says No, then there's no argument, I'll orbit - but it doesn't harm to ask for something different to what you're cleared.
FFF
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I dont know if id suggest to ATC, id quite happily request something from them and know they're purpose is at the end of the day to help us get from A to B without bumping into each other so they are not big scary monsters (Well not all of them). But I generally feel as has been stated many times over they have the overall picture, and going by the ones i know some of the most fantastic situational awareness going so I do as they say. Just my 2p worth...