Your Ideal Aircraft Belongs on ATC Radar

Routinely talking with controllers makes flying safer, more efficient, and less stressful.

Jonathan Welsh

Monday, April 24, 2023 at 11:57 AM ET

Verified

Getting to Cape May County Airport (KWWD) is easier when you talk to ATC. [Credit: Jonathan Welsh]

Key Takeaways:

The author, a VFR pilot who once avoided Air Traffic Control (ATC), has "converted" to regularly using it for longer, more ambitious flights to achieve direct, efficient routes.
Embracing ATC, even for VFR flights, has proven faster and less stressful, allowing direct navigation through complex and busy airspace that previously required significant diversions.
The article encourages other ATC-averse pilots to overcome their apprehension, suggesting that communicating with controllers opens up new possibilities and vastly improves the overall travel experience.

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One of the best things about flying from my home airport in Sussex, New Jersey (KFWN), is that it is a non-towered field with plenty of uncontrolled airspace surrounding it. For a long time, that meant freedom for me, as it does for many VFR-only private pilots.

The airport is near the northern tip of the state, and you can fly into New York and Pennsylvania, and all over New England, without ever having to speak with an air traffic controller. For many years this arrangement suited me well because I rarely traveled long distances, and when I did, avoiding busy airspace around Boston and New York was easy.