Basic Service - What's the point?
I have been holding off posting this for a few weeks to see how things settle down.....
I fly a non-transponder aircraft mostly around the south coast and in the area covered by Farnborough West. My flying is what I call advanced bimbling - I'm usually going somewhere but in a very unhurried way.
On the few recent occasions when I have asked for a Basic Service, I really have been left wondering 'what's the point'. I have a basic exchange of information with the controller (type, departure, destination, route height etc.) and I carry on bimbling. The most I ever get is a 'report at the M4' or similar, which is usually just a cue to hand over to someone eles. When I get near my destination, I advise of a frequency change and that's it. I never hear anything else from them (nor they from me).
On the few occasions I have asked for a Traffic Service, all but one was refused due either to 'controler workload' or 'traffic density'. The one I did get was on a very hazy day, flying back towards a low sun with absolutely no hope of spotting oncoming traffic visually. I was asked to make turns for positive identification and the service was excellent. This leads me to think that with no transponder (another topic for another thread - let's see if we can avoid thread-drift) I am generally defined as 'not positively identified' and therefor unlikely to receive much in the way of useful information.
I have pretty much come to the view that the Basic Service is a waste of my time, and perhaps more significantly, the controler's time. If all the people getting the marginally useful Basic Service just kept quiet, would there be enough spare capacity to provide those wo needed it with Traffic Services or better?
Your thoughts gentlemen please...