 Re: Flight Following
Everyone does it different and there is no stead fast wrong or right way, myself and many I work with like meritflyer's technique and here's why. He gives just the right amount of info for me to get the ball rolling, most important he gives a location for me to look.
Cessna XXXX, 3 southeast of XXX, VFR request
He tells me who he is, where to look, and roughly what he wants. On my end I can grab a blank strip, jot down the call sign, try and ID where he is, start a track, and get a code out of the computer to issue to him.
Cessna XXXX go ahead...
He'll generally come back with where he wants to go, where he departed from, and type A/C. I can give him a code, positive ID him, and get the flight plan info into the computer.
Why this also helps is if he is in someone else's airspace when he calls we haven't wasted each others time, I can just give him the proper frequency to contact.
If possible try and be close on the location, especially talking to center. We work some sectors on a significant range and are looking at a lot of data. Stating over XXX VOR when you are really 8 miles E NE of the VOR does not help. I understand that without GPS or DME equipment this is not as easy but the more exact you can tell me the easier it sometimes makes it. |