The FAA calls it “VFR traffic advisories. You and I probably call it “flight following.” In practice, ATC provides traffic information, plus safety alerts, “limited” vectoring when requested and/or sequencing to airport arrivals. In reality, flight following is a situational awareness tool for VFR operations, which also gives you a headstart on entering some airspace and immediate access to ATC in an emergency.
In many ways, it’s just like being IFR in a radar/ADS-B environment. And while that can lull us into a false sense of security, flight following is an additional tool in your quiver of arrows, to mangle a metaphor. While it enhances your situational awareness, it also can be a crutch on a boring flight. The benefits far outweigh the downsides, though. As always, we need to guard against complacency.
Basic Features
By far the feature we most want from flight following is traffic advisories. Since they and many other elements of flight following are provided on a workload-permitting basis—ATC gives first non-emergency priority to IFR aircraft—you cannot depend on ATC to point out all traffic to you. I’ve watched airliners sail by 1000 feet below and a couple of miles away while ATC said nothing to me.
Often, however, you may hear yourself being called as traffic to another flight, sometimes without ATC telling you about the interloper. That’s one reason you need to listen up. What’s likely, though is you’ll be the next call, so ATC can advise you of the nearby traffic. That’s why they call it “advisories.” One thing I often do is try to spot traffic ATC hasn’t told me about. It’s not hard, especially if you have an in-cockpit traffic display you can use to “cheat.”
In other words, flight following is just another traffic-avoidance tool, right up there with the Release 1.0 human eyeball. It’s also a supplement to ADS-B In’s traffic information service (TIS). Much has and will continue to be written about TIS—it’s not foolproof nor omniscient—but it, too, is a supplement to looking out the window. These days, with these three basic tools, there’s little excuse for being surprised by a close traffic encounter in the en route environment. In remote areas, however, it’s not the least bit rare to encounter traffic neither TIS nor ATC told you about, especially at low altitude or in the backcountry.
If you’re living right, ATC will create a strip for you, putting you in the “system” and facilitating handoffs to adjacent controllers. One way to know if there’s a strip is if the assigned squawk code starts with zero. If so, that’s a so-called “local” code and you may not get handed off to an adjacent radar facility.
Safety Alerts
Safety alerts given to VFR flights by ATC can include traffic as well as terrain and obstacles. The Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) tells us, “A safety alert will be issued to pilots…if the controller is aware the aircraft is at an altitude…that places the aircraft in unsafe proximity to terrain, obstructions or other aircraft.”
One big caveat with these services is that providing them does not relieve a pilot from responsibilities involving, for example, “to see and avoid” VFR traffic, maneuver to avoid wake encounters and maintain appropriate terrain and obstruction clearance. Which highlights a “feature” of flight following: ATC may suggest a heading or altitude, but traffic and obstacle avoidance remain the pilot’s responsibility. Don’t let ATC vector you into a cloud, for example, without an appropriate IFR clearance. Ask for revised instructions.
Stage Fright
Even if aviation isn’t your career, you should strive to sound professional on the radio. What many refer to as “mic-fright” is a real thing for some pilots. It’s usually only a problem for those inexperienced in dealing with ATC, which they may view as Big Brother. They can be skittish about making a mistake and facing the controller’s wrath. Some suggestions might include:
Know what you’re going to say before you push the transmit button.
- Know where you are before you push the transmit button.
- Don’t mix in CB-radio language, but keep it concise.
- Read back all information ATC gives you, like squawk codes and handoff frequencies. Write them down.
- When advised of unseen traffic, “negative contact” is a better response than “no joy.”
- Advise “traffic in sight” when the intruder is spotted.
- Always end your transmissions with your call sign.
Asking For It
There’s no real magic to getting ATC’s attention as a pop-up VFR flight. Wait for an appropriate moment on the correct frequency and then radio the facility with your call sign. They’ll respond. Tell them what type and where you are, and what you want. Asking for “flight following” or “advisories” communicates your request. Be prepared to give ATC your planned route and altitude.
What’s the correct frequency? It depends. When departing a Class B, C or D facility, it will be given to you. If you’re climbing out of Cheap Avgas Municipal, ask your panel or EFB to give you the nearest ARTCC or nearby airport’s approach control.
As with any initial call on a new frequency, wait until you’re sure the controller isn’t in the middle of something before you mash the mic button. If you can’t seem to get in a word on the frequency, you have your answer on whether ATC can give you flight following. Remember, it’s provided on a workload-permitting basis, and VFR aircraft are not a high priority.
Presuming you’re on the correct frequency, don’t change that channel. Listen to who’s on the frequency and what’s being said. The controller may have heard you and is waiting for their workload to ease before calling you back. And you could be the traffic just pointed out to the Airbus at its 12 o’clock.
Once You Have It
There are a couple of expectations ATC has for aircraft participating in flight following. Perhaps paramount is you should advise them if you change your altitude. Unless ATC assigned you an altitude in Class B, C or D airspace, altitude is at your discretion. But you need to tell ATC before you change altitude. You’re not asking for a clearance or other kind of approval, but you are advising ATC of what you’re doing before you do it. The same is true if you change your destination or routing. You can head all that off if you let them know ahead of time what you plan to do. Same thing as with altitude changes, though: You’re advising, not requesting.
Presuming you’re on a long VFR cross-country and gave the highlights to ATC, you likely can expect handoffs to successive facilities along your route. If you get dropped by a controller with “radar service terminated, frequency change approved, squawk VFR,” before you go, ask them whether you can keep the squawk code and for the next controller’s frequency. There’s a chance the facility will recognize you once you’re in their airspace if you keep the squawk and come up on their frequency.
When checking in on the new frequency after the handoff, ATC doesn’t need to know your whole story again, presuming it hasn’t changed. Something simple that includes your call sign and altitude, like, “Atlanta Center, Skyhawk 12345, seven thousand five hundred,” is all the check-in on the new frequency you typically should need.
Canceling
If you’re landing at a towered facility, once handed off to the tower, radar service will be terminated. At non-towered facilities, when and where to cancel flight following is up to you. A typical point at which to cancel service is when you’ve spotted the destination airport.
Unlike when IFR, the controller also can cancel your flight following service. Workload-related reasons are probably the most common, with radar/ADS-B and/or communications loss running a close second.
When You Lose It
It’s not the end of the world if you lose flight following and want it back. And there can be many reasons you’re no longer in contact with ATC. Perhaps most common is you’re too low and too far away from ground-based radio, radar and/or ADS-B facilities. If that’s the case, ATC probably knows where they’ll lose you, as well as when they’ll pick you up again.
If ATC told you to keep the squawk code and use another frequency in a few miles, follow that advice. If you lose contact for no good reason and turning down the squelch on your comm radio doesn’t enable you to hear ATC again, don’t panic. For one, they already know your plan. For another, they’re looking for your squawk; don’t change it to 1200 unless you’ve given up hope and don’t want to deal with ATC any more. The next guy or gal down the road may be waiting on you.
Putting It All Together
Flight following is a worthwhile service to use when flying beyond your local area on a cross-country. As we stated at the top of this article, it’s one more tool you can use to help ensure a drama- and risk-free flight.
One thing VFR flight following is not? An IFR clearance. Using it doesn’t mean you can poke into the occasional white puffy cloud along your route. Instead, navigate around it. If you need a drastic course change, let ATC know beforehand, just as you would when changing altitude.
