It also gives a very big hint to the pilot that there are different services provided under the Flight Information Service heading in the UK.
The problem is that it is a bit too late to discover this once your in the air and on your way!
It is the same as the UK R/T differences that exist. Many crews don't know what they are since no one can find them easily. Many pilots are still brought up with ICAO Doc 9432 being their one and only reference source for R/T training. It is ridiculous for the UK to have so many changes when these are hidden away and not easily accessible for foreign crews which is just like the ATSOCAS issue. However R/T is a different point and one that I won't drift onto.
No one will object to anyone doing something differently if there is a good safety reason behind it. However at least make the information easy to access. The CAA are to blame since they obviously think that foreign crews can report hours and hours before a flight and trawl through the AIP, all the AICs and study the Jeppesen supplements for the UK. Sadly in the real world this does not happen.
For airfields that are not in controlled airspace, then why doesn't the CAA publish the different ATSOCAS procedures in the AIP entries for these airfields? This will in turn get the third party chart suppliers to stick in a blurb in about ATSOCAS for the airfields concerned.
Alelujah... someone after my own heart. Trouble is, the glider freaks and the clockwork mouse drivers would go out of their tiny little minds!!
HD... Tarring all GA pilots with that brush is most unfair. There are some PPLs in the UK whose standard of training and attention to detail with their planning would make some of the foreign crews that fly large commercial transport aircraft in UK airspace, look like PPL students.
There should be more controlled airspace and I think many G/A pilots would approve of this once the pros and cons have been examined.