Reminds me of an exchange I heard awhile ago. Terminal was providing flight following service to a VFR aircraft. It was very busy with many light aircraft on the frequency yet the controller was helping everybody out even though he was not required to provide any service in the area.

ATC: "Cessna XXX there are several opposing aircraft if you fly an easterly heading for about 5 miles you will be clear of all traffic"

The reply in a very British accent with quite a supercilious tone:

ABC terminal this is Cessna 172 C-GABC shouldn't you have told me to fly a heading of 090 degrees.

This gem was greeted with a short response

ATC: "Cessna ABC radar service terminated"

Farnborough ATIS always gives the qnh as hectopascals even when it's well above 1000 millibars (sic)

What I find odd is that different ANSPs use almost identical arguments to support different, sometimes opposite, procedures/phraseologies - less ambiguous, worlds best practice etc.

To me the use of the word "heading" is self explanatory. It means the numbers that follow it are, rather surprisingly, referring to a heading.

I have found that during my 25 plus years as a controller, safety has turned into an industry that now employs hundreds of consultants, experts and managers. In a similar way that can be seen with human factors issues, these people justify their existence by all kinds of initiatives of the 'teach your grand mother to suck eggs' variety.

Nothing like the old days..

London Approach: "TWA xxx report leaving Ockham heading 060 degrees".

TWA: "Give ya sixty out of Ockham. Tell y'bout it".

Chevvron,

I personally think that if you are mandated to say Hectopascals for some circumstances then you might as well say it in every instance. It then reduces the chance of forgetting to say it when mandated and getting screwed over for it of you have an incident...

Talkdownman... as a CAPC I would be very pee'd off if a UCE behaved like that and would encourage any controller to challenge such behaviour and would support them to the hilt. in no uncertain terms

I assumed that saying Hectopascals was as a back up to the confusion of inches of Hg when you start saying 9s. That said, I don't work UK airspace so we don't say it anyway.

What is a CAPC? Controller of Approach Control? Chief AirPort Controller?College Assessor of Previous Competence? Civil Aviation Publication Collector? Civil Aviation Police Constable? Coordinator of Aviation Political Correctness?...

Condescending Asshole Posting Content?

Saying "degrees" with all headings ending in zero just seems pointless for certain parts of ATC.
If a pilot being vectored onto final approach at an airport mistakes a "Turn left heading 330" instruction for "Climb FL330" and then decides to actually climb to said Flight level even though they want to land at the airport they are receiving vectors for....there are serious problems in world aviation.