REFLECTOR: Flight plan code for Veocity

[Scott Derrick]

I know you directed this at Kurt, but thought I'd chime in having worked as 
a radar rat before.

I've been out of the "business" for over 10 years now but I don't think 
pilot behavior has changed all that much.  At least it sounds like it 
hasn't from my point of view from the cockpit.

Controllers come in all kinds also.  I worked with guys(girls included) 
that would not work vfr traffic unless forced to.  Luckily I was trained by 
an old pilot/controller who worked as much traffic as he could, vfr or ifr, 
so I also would work any and all traffic that called on the radio unless I 
was really swamped.

Problems with the Dinks(you and I!),

Radio communications was the biggest problem, mainly phraseology and 
running off at the mouth.  The problem as I saw it was the pilot didn't 
formulate what he needed to say before he keyed the microphone and thus 
stumbled all over the place.  A good rule of thumb is figure out what your 
going to say first, then say as little as possible.

Another problem was pilots not "doing what they say, or saying what they 
do".    An example is telling the controller your going to  Denver, but 
failing to mention your going by Pueblo to show a passenger the sights.  A 
while later he is then surprised to see your going 90 degrees off 
course!  If you had said "going to Denver via Pueblo"  no problem, but you 
didn't so now he doesn't trust you.  Controllers don't like suprises like 
that and the whole game is based on trust.  Break the trust and your 
terminated.

I'm mainly talking about GA VFR traffic here, IFR traffic is generally 
better though there are even GA IFR pilots who paint the whole GA fleet in 
a bad light.

All that said, I recommend every body to ask for flight following,  if your 
flying outside your airport's area. Always when flying cross country.   Its 
the best insurance  against problems you'll ever get.  An order of 
magnitude better than filing a vfr flight plan.  ATC is there to help in 
any way you need it, weather, equipment, whatever.  If your talking to ATC 
and tell them you have a problem,  the decks are cleared are you are Numero 
Uno.

Flowing heavy traffic into an approach is a gas and most controllers get a 
real sense of accomplishment doing that, but nothing compares to helping 
out a pilot in need.

Scott

At 08:27 AM 7/21/2004, you wrote:
>Besides all of the RV's, what other interesting experimentals are you
>seeing?
>
>On a side note, do you have any remarks about competency (or confidence
>level) in radio operations (or otherwise) of spam canners vs. experimentals?
>
>What would you say about the private guys vs. the small commercial ops?
>
>I'm just curious.  I have a controller friend, who doesn't really like small
>airplanes getting into his airspace.  He has lots of complaints about us,
>but mostly from what I can gather, it's the inexperience/professionalism
>that gets under his skin.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
>Behalf Of NMFlyer1 at aol.com
>Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 1:01 AM
>To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
>Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Flight plan code for Veocity
>
>Mel ( and all)
>
>The FAA designator for any Velocity for flight planning/flight following
>purposes is "VELO" and then your equipment suffix. If you chose to be a
>little more generic, you can use "HXB" and then the equipment suffix (since
>indicated cruise speed is between 100-200 KIAS).
>
>When I provide flight following in our low altitude airspace, I always ask
>what type an experimental is. Just curious I guess, and I like to know what
>Im working with.
>
>You can always add anything you want to the remarks of a flight plan. Keep
>in mind, that a VFR flight plan (filed with Flight Service) does NOT share
>that information with radar facilities. If you file an IFR flight plan, the
>information does go to all associated control facilities.
>
>I was bummed yesterday when I talked to a velocity on hos way to OSH. I'll
>be in the hangar while all you fly in people are having fun :)
>
>Kurt Winker
>Albuquerque ARTCC
>
>
>
>
>In a message dated 7/21/2004 1:34:10 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>PUSHERPILOT at wmconnect.com writes:
>
> > What is the designation for a Standard Velocity on a flight plan?
> >
> >Thanks,
> >Mel Bina
> >
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