But the accident investigators quite rightly pointed out that it was a source of potential confusion, and made a recommendation that it be passed by the PIC to the tower on first contact for every flight. Apart from a period in the nineties (IIRC) when the requirement was not promulgated, it has been ever since.
Actually,
Remoak is right on this one, as
Woodwork has alluded to. However, it goes back to the days before the WN-WB issues, back to the days of Origin Pacific.
MATS used to say "Pilots of departing aircraft
shall advise POB to ATS before taxiing, and arriving aircraft when establishing RTF communication with aerodrome control or AFIS."
However, objections were raised to this for the reasons Remoak stated, so the text was changed to:
"Pilots of departing aircraft
should advise POB to ATS before taxiing, and arriving aircraft when establishing RTF communication with aerodrome control or AFIS."
In other words, it isn't mandatory anyway. MATS 4-21 refers. In ATC-speak, "shall" is used when application of the procedure is
mandatory, and "should" is used when application of the procedure is
recommended.
It may not appear in Link manuals any more, but it was certainly policy at one time, probably still is in an informal way at places like WB.
Surprised you didn't know about that, Tarq57.