Initial call
There has been something really bugging me lately, particularly from pilots of UK based charter airlines.
The ommission of required reports on first contact with superfluous requests for climb/descent"
Example of recent exchange:
"London ABC123, approaching FL220 request lower"
"ABC123, roger, are you on a radar heading and were you given a speed"
"ABC123, affirm, heading 325 and 300kts or greater"
Another one.....Initial call after transfer from tower:
"London, XYZ987 approaching 60 for higher"
Correct me if I am wrong but should the call not go something like :
"London, XYZ987, passing 4,500ft for FL60, COWLY1E departure"
All information that is not offered has to be sought by the controller, which takes up important R/T time, and reduces time for co-ordinations and planning.
Please trust us, we will climb or descend you as soon as we can, so please can we stop the unnecessary requests and concentrate on passing full and accurate information on first contact........if you do so we can give you what you want more quickly, rather than asking for information you should have already given us.
This seems to be especially prevalent from charter operators, that is not to slight these operators, just simply my own experience from sitting in front of the tube.
It is happening more and more now, to the point where to be honest I find it annoying.
Oh, while I remember too had a great one recently:
"ABC123, level FL60 request higher"
"ABC123, negative maintain FL60 due inbound traffic 2 miles crossing left to right 1000 above"
"ABC123 roger we have him on TCAS"
Q: Why bother to ask for climb?
We are all pulling in the same direction, these unnecessary requests rob us of valuable time, so please help us to help yourselves and use the R/T responsibly.
Thanks
PS: I would like to add that I hold all UK pilots in the highest regard, we are very fortunate to have such excellant crews operating in our airspace, so I do hope nobody takes offence at the above quibbles.........Also if any crews wish to chip in with anything you find annoying about "Operational" ATC (That is excluding slots, sector closures, crap R/T coverage, NERC disasters, staff shortages, level capping etc etc......these are management problems and we are all very aware of them!!) please do.