Air Ground Radio
 

Okay, please can you ATC knowledgable chappies hear me out on this one.
Had to drop someone off at a small unnamed airfield in N. England today (for the sake of argument, we'll call it Sheffield City).
Having been the good little pilot, I ascertained it to be an A/G station before I left, and coming from an A/G place myself (Sherburn), felt pretty confident I could handle myself on the radio.

Now I'm not sure if I've misread the rules, or if this guy was just a bit big for his boots, but right from the get go he was acting like he should have been at Heathrow. On the way in, he 'cleared' us to enter via a VRP, then cleared us to land, and then on the way out he got a bit annoyed that we hadnt requested Departure clearance from his holiness. This was because, in my understanding, at an A/G field, all movements are at the PIC's discretion, so i just called him to say I was departing. I was not going to take any clearances from him (firstly because he wasnt qualified to, and because they may have been unsafe).

Can someone please spot check my knowledge on this? Standard A/G service as I remember it (I know because I used to man one) is just airfield information, radio check, and the occassional wind check. Thats it, surely?

Cheers for any advice,

ETC

All this cloak and dagger stuff!!!

Why not just say WHERE it is - as some fields can be ATC/FISO dependant on the availability/published times.

Yes, be useful to know where. Ring the aerodrome manager and have a chat. Someone might have been having a bad day. Best to get it sorted locally. If you still feel agrieved afterwards then your only other option is to speak to ATSSD at Gatwick.

Air Ground Radio
 

Hi there,
suggest you have another look ar CAP452 the Air Ground Radio Operators Guide and see the chapters on Air Ground from CAP413. As you say A/G is a pretty basic service which can be difficult for some A/G operators to apply at some places when they get busy. FISO has a certain "control" up to the Holding Point of the active runway. Clearances can only be relayed from ATC verbatim. This is very much a generalisation.
Hope it helps.:)

I can only agree with what VATCO says. If no joy locally chat to ATSSD - it sounds like you might be doing someone a favour in the long run.