@ Jumbodriver
Wow, are you seriously advocating that EVERY pilot get airborne without clarifying their altimeter setting?
The simple fact is that I (controller) HAVE to, and WANT to, clarify that you (pilot) have the correct setting, and sorry, but "info Kilo" is not sufficient.
Fortunatly/unfortunatly both pilots and controllers are humans, and these beings tend to make mistakes, have you never heard of transposing figures, or miss-hearing, or hearing one number and using another? Are you saying that no pilot is ever in a rush, or late, or distracted, or can't read their own writing? - get that one a lot!
Look, mistakes happen, especially where altimeters are concerned, eg
At my unit the SID climb is to a FL, NOT altitude. its clearly marked on the plates, we commuicate with the airlines about this on a regular basis, and it is a mandatory readback in the clearance, and yet... last week I had 4 (four) regular carriers climbing to x thousand feet!!
About three weeks ago:
ATC; "Nxxx, descend to altitude x thousand feet, QNH 998 millibars"
Nxxx pilot in a happy voice; "descend x thousand, altimeter to 998"
What the controller heard was;
"I am now descending to x thousand, i am changing my altimeter to 998 , and geez aren't you brits nice giving me a straight in approach and saving me 20 odd miles"
What the pilot meant was;
"I am now descending to x thousand, I am changing my altimeter to 29.98, and geez aren't you brits nice giving me the setting in inches of mercury"
I would suggest getting yourself to an ATC unit in the UK and seeing how often pilots - and controllers - make errors that are picked up by the 'other side', you may then understand how vital it is that we all clarify that we are on the same page.
WonkyV