VFR flight

[johnbla 31]

Hi

 

I fly mainly VFR, sometimes with a flight plan, sometimes without. I have a couple of questions re procedures.

 

1. If I fly with a flight plan, does departure hand me over to centre, and if so, where do you get the freq's for it. If not, do I just dial centre and contact them?

 

2. For flying around from A to B without a flight plan, when I approach my destination, is it up to me to put the approach freq or multicom of the destination and dial it in? With the default ATC, this is of course done for you.

 

A short summary of VFR flight would be most helpful.

 

I intend to download the ver 2 demo next week, but I would like to know the details of VFR flight so that I can give the demo a good work out before contemplating purchase.

 

I have read the manual, but references to VFR flight seemed a bit sparse.

 

Thanks for any replies.

 

John

 

 

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

John,

If you're flying VFR with flight following from takeoff, yes, you will get handed over to other controllers.  Otherwise, no, like in real VFR you will be told "frequency change approved" when you get to the edge of the Tower radius.

When you get to your destination, you can find the Approach control freq for your destination airport by using the Freq button to the right of the map which gives you Nearby frequencies.  Then make your VFR inbound call or request an instrument approach, vectors for visual straight in, etc.

 

Yes, I do need to make a VFR demo.  It's on the list, but just haven't gotten to it yet.

 

Enjoy the trial.

Dave

[racklefratz 4]

Of course, in the real world, the majority of usable airports are uncontrolled fields, with no ATC presence whatsoever.  Pilots announce their intentions on unicom and everything works fine.  If you truly enjoy asking "mother may I?" for everything you do, you can deal with ATC at larger airports, but I always considered it an annoyance.

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

And you can make the standard CTAF calls on Unicom or CTAF frequency, if available,  when at an uncontrolled airport.  Of course, you will not get a reply...

 

Dave

[racklefratz 4]

And you can make the standard CTAF calls on Unicom or CTAF frequency, if available,  when at an uncontrolled airport.  Of course, you will not get a reply...

 

Nor is a reply needed. 

 

That's the beauty of uncontrolled airport communications.  Required information is available to all - everyone has the information they need, and frequencies aren't all congested with unnecessary read-backs and confirmations.  And best of all, pilots can make operational decisions without the need to call a controller for permission to execute, which may well be denied.

 

ATC is, IMO, a necessary evil, and I'm a licensed pilot.  Controllers are like anyone else - they can have bad days, and when they do, they can be a royal PITA.  High density airports can't do without them, but low density fields, where the majority of "real" flying takes place, do just fine without ATC.  The proof is in the statistics.

 

Note that nothing I've said is intended to bash anyone with ATC software for sale.  These are just my personal opinions, after 20+ years of real flying, much of it in my own airplanes.

[johnbla 31]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

 

John

[tryanc 0]

Just completed my first two VFR flights with P2ATC. I had a couple issues and would love to see a tutorial or write up on how flight following is implemented with P2ATC.

 

I created and filed a VFR flight plan between two class C airports. The request with Clearance goes as expected. When cleared for takeoff with Tower I would expect to be given a departure heading or some sort of "fly direct" instructions but didn't receive any. Handoff to enroute control happened as expected. When approaching my destination under flight following I expected to be told to contact the local tower but on both flights ATC was silent and I overflew my destination. 

 

I would imagine that realistic VFR implementation is going to be even more complex than IFR with all the airspace differences but would love to get a better sense for how a typical VFR flight following handoffs should happen.

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

Thanks for the feedback.  I'll PM you on how to find a log file that will help me see how to improve the scenario you describe.

 

Thanks,

Dave