VFR Flight Following

But, if you are going VFR, deciding if you want flight following should definitely be on your list. If youre going to pass through Class Bravo airspace you might as well; its virtually a requirement. Otherwise, if the weather is clear and a million, youre not going through any airspace requiring you to talk to ATC, and youve decided to go VFR, should you consider flight following? Long story short, and after all factors are considered, the answer is Yes.

Elim Hawkins

Saturday, October 20, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

VFR flight following significantly enhances safety by providing pilots with traffic and obstacle advisories, assisting in emergencies when ATC already knows your location, and alerting to critical events like pop-up TFRs or fast-moving weather.
The service offers practical advantages such as streamlining navigation through busy airspace, facilitating practice instrument approaches, and enabling direct routing after canceling IFR, typically being straightforward to obtain from radar facilities.
While flight following is provided on a workload-permitting basis and may involve ATC vectors or altitude restrictions, these measures are primarily for safety and efficiency, making it a highly recommended and valuable service for VFR pilots.

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When you start your flight planning, one of the first things you may think of is the mission, how far you are going, and the minimums. Within those parameters, you determine if you need to go IFR or if VFR is sufficient. Obviously, if conditions or your own preferences lead you to an IFR flight, VFR flight following isn’t your concern.

But, if you are going VFR, deciding if you want flight following should definitely be on your list. If you’re going to pass through Class Bravo airspace you might as well; it’s virtually a requirement. Otherwise, if the weather is “clear and a million,” you’re not going through any airspace requiring you to talk to ATC, and you’ve decided to go VFR, should you consider flight following? Long story short, and after all factors are considered, the answer is “Yes.”