the controller you described will be no "git" but a highly qualified artisan who was doing his best
Unlike the "artisan" on 123.95 the other night who steadfastly ignored initial calls from three aircraft in a row, then had everyone "Say again" the info they'd transmitted up front in the first place.
This fella had a local accent. Couldn't be bothered taking it in and just ignored everyone. Yeah I'm sure they're busy sometimes but other guys seem to be able to lift a finger and at least transmit, "Standby." Or they seem able to take in the info while doing something else, then get back to the aircraft and not need everything said all over again.
How many instances of returning to previous Muscat or UAE freq with, "No joy on 12X.XX", to be answered with, "Okay try again now (I just woke him up.)"......??
Question:
Do the Muscat staff have any contact with the imbeciles in Bombay and know which HF freq is in "use" by them or do they just read off every HF freq on the chart to the pilot?
If the latter, may as well save your breath and air time as it's written all over the chart anyway. On the other hand, if known, the freq actually in use at the time WOULD be handy sometimes...
This is not new or cutting edge practice, it's actually done in western FIRs!
Thankyou for that small favour, oh gods of the tower!!!
A small amount of timely information can make a difference on a long flight. Maybe knowing how long you're going to be at a level and burning more than planned and being able to plan ahead could be handy for the guy in the seat.
Really, just HOW hard is it for AT
S to say something like, "Negative traffic ahead, flight level ***, same airway, destination is *****."
Now it's the pilot's problem but at least he has an idea of the bigger picture and maybe it might even affect the end result for 300 odd paying passengers - one of whom could be an ATS staff member on vacation.
But this git still had time to be a smartass.
The "S" in ATS stands for Service but obviously some precious types seem to have forgotten that.