7366 and the Manchester LLR
 

On a trip yesterday to Halfpenny Green from Barton I used the 7366 squawk in the LLR as requested by MAN ATC and was on listening watch only. On both transits I was called by them to advise me of conflicting traffic and a possible obstacle ahead. I was naturally very grateful for the shout but the question is..
After having spoken to ATC at their instigation, am I expected to request leaving the frequency as usual,or just silently QSY? I did the former but was aware that ATC were as always very busy and would be interested in the preferred course of action in this situation.

squawk 7000 when you leave the frequency and they'll assume you're gone.

Never, but never, leave a frequency on which you have been communicating unless a) told you can do so, or told to contact another unit, or b) you tell them you're going. It's abysmal communication practice to just leave a frequency and might give rise to unnecessary emergency action later - seen it happen several times.

:uhoh: Sorry just re read the posts and realised that two way comms had been established, silly me:uhoh:

If they called you just to give you some information, and left you on 7366, you can leave the frequency and change to 7000 without saying anything.

If they called you and gave you a new squawk and a service (e.g. Flight Information Service) then don't dare leave the frequency without asking.

Sounds like someone went beyond the call of duty.

Well I for one am glad that they did, I wasn't under any illusions about what (non) service I was getting and was grateful for the heads-up. Whoever you were, sir, thanks again.

HD - fully agree with you, but perhaps you could advise what you would have done in this situation (at the risk of thread drift)...

A while back I was transitting Birmingham Zone VFR (on a clearance with a Mode C squawk) and as I was passing close to - but outside - Coventry ATZ, I was asked by Birmingham to retain their squawk and to contact Coventry to advise I was nearby, then go back to Birmingham as quickly as I could. So, changed to Coventry, made three calls (at least a minute apart) with no response. On the fourth call, was very curtly told "G-XXXX standby we will call you". Five mins. pass, with virtually no RT between anyone and Coventry ATC, so I chose to return to the Birmingham frequency as I was still inside their airspace, but was rapidly approaching my destination (Wellesbourne) and needed to talk to them too. I didn't advise CVT that I was leaving their frequency, as clearly they had no desire to talk to me. Did I do the right thing or would your 'never' rule still apply in this instance?

No sarcasm intended - I am genuinely trying to find out what's best in such circumstances. Thanks.

You were given traffic information and terrain clearance information. That doesn't sound like 'non-service' to me. I'm sure you were very happy for the heads up, but it definitely blurs the lines.

The 7366 squawk is a procedure whereby aircraft use this squawk to indicate that they are listening out on the MAN app freq and are not requesting a service and maintaining listening watch only.
It sounds like the controller passed traffic information to the contact squawking 7366 in a generic manner.
There's no blurring of lines - this is an approved procedure for this area - it means that less aircraft call a busy freq merely to get a FIS through the LLR. Some still call for a FIS - no problem.
HD is right in that in other circumstances you shouldn't leave a freq from which you're getting a service from without saying first.
But in this case, as the procedure is just a listening watch, so when you QSY - change your squawk ( as you're no longer listening out!) and that shows you've gone. You can call to say you're going en route, or not. The whole point of the procedure is to reduce RT. I imagine that you felt obliged to call as you had received traffic inf, but as you were not in receipt of any service you could have just QSY'd and changed squawk, however - if you're in any doubt - then call the freq.

BIG AL - in your case you were getting a service from BB, and attempted a courtesy call to Coventry who were not able to deal with you at the time - so yes go back to BB and, as I imagine you did, tell them you couldn't get hold of Coventry. That way - you've tried to do as you were asked and if it is vital that Coventry know of your position, then BB could telephone to pass traffic information

Bit long and rambly - but hope that is of use

louby

Even if there is no actual requirement in this instance to report leaving the frequency, it would be courteous (and all of 5 seconds) to 'check-out' with the controller - if for nothing else, just to say thank you. Just manners really ;)

Fin Dir,

Do you know how busy this frequency can get? The procedure is in place to minimise calls!