Does "radar contact" require acknowledgement?
Hello all,
As the title implies I am wondering if I am required to read back, acknowledge or even reply to when the controller tells me that he has "radar contact" or that I am "identified". I am referring to the situation where you would expect to get this, i.e. on first contact after departure or sometimes when transferred to another sector.
I haven't been doing this for my about 3000 hours now, and didn't really think much about it. Then I flew with one guy who insisted this was procedure, as it apparently constitutes a clearance to commence reduced reporting procedures. We tried to look it up in our route manual but couldn't find a definite answer.
So, which one is it, and where does it say?