does this annoy you?

[dakovich]

i fly SIC for a charter company, and have a captain that is always, always bugging me to ask ATC for HIGHER, DIRECT, etc...i mean it's a constant nagging kind of thing. does that kind of thing bug the living crap outta' ya?? personally, i'm pretty much under the impression ATC understands that we would like to get to our final cruise altitude asap, and also direct whenever we can get it...so unless i feel its a weird situation i wont bother ATC. drives me nutts just being prompted every 20 seconds to ask for higher, etc...am i missing something, is what the capt is doing "normal"??

[Fox Xray]

It depends... use common sense, if the controller sounds busy, say has a lot of A/C on frequency, is holding, etc. ... it's probably not a good time to start asking for direct somewhere.

The majority of directs have to be worked out on the land line because pilots often request to go direct to a fix in someone else's airspace. If it is not covered by a LOA then manual coordination is required. Keep in mind that the sector you are in my not be busy but where the fix you are requesting direct to may be busy. Before I call I try and see what is happening in the sector, if they are busy I won't bother the controller with a request.

If you fly the same routes often you'll quickly learn what will get approved and what will not. I have numerous pilots fly through sectors I work that know all the tricks... they know what to ask for and exactly where to ask for it. That also helps get things approved.

For the most part I (and many of my colleagues) do not get annoyed at the requests, I understand where the pilots are coming from. Use common sense... if the direct will help avoid weather or some other safety issue, by all means request and state the reason.