Need some advice. What would I request from ATC in this case?

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Nick Kan

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cavsfan2016
Lets say I want to fly over my house which is south of KCLE, I have the area circled in the image. I know I will likely wanting to talk to Cleveland approach but what do I request from them if I want to just go out to my house and back? It wouldn't be flight following right? I am not going to a specific airport. Any advice would be appreciated. I also have the airport I am departing from circled (KBKL).
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You might tell them you're doing some site seeing and give them the approximate area. I've done something similar when when flying around downtown CLT. They are very accommodating. They typically say something like stay East of X and let us know when you're done.
 
Pick up flight following, tell them you will be doing maneuvering / sightseeing at X altitude about 10 south of Burke Lakefront. If you stay under the Bravo you don't actually have to talk to anyone.. but it's always best to be on with ATC

I've done similar here when wanting ATC coverage but just interested in sightseeing over the desert or tooling around somewhere
 
As long as you stay under the Bravo shelf you don't have to talk to anyone. But it wouldn't be a bad idea to get flight following.
 
Nick Kan said:
Lets say I want to fly over my house which is south of KCLE, I have the area circled in the image. I know I will likely wanting to talk to Cleveland approach but what do I request from them if I want to just go out to my house and back? It wouldn't be flight following right? I am not going to a specific airport. Any advice would be appreciated. I also have the airport I am departing from circled (KBKL).
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If you want to talk to Approach, request Flight Following. Tell them what you are going to do in general terms, 'my house' wouldn't be the thing to say. I'm gonna do a couple 360's about 8 miles Southeast of Lakefront would be just fine. I'd assume you'd stick with them after that, if so give them your destination. It's likely you could get this all arranged before you depart with Lakefront Ground. If you didn't and just waited until you left the D to call Approach, you probably would have already got the orbits over your house done by the time you got ahold of them, made your request, and got identified.
 
I have had no problems making similar requests. Time your flight so it is not rush hour at the main airport, tell the controller in plain English (like 'my house'). At that point you may get vectors or simply "proceed as requested." If the controller can't comply due to traffic he/she will tell you. In my experience all of these folks are completely comfortable conversing in plain English and very willing to help where possible.
 
airdale said:
I have had no problems making similar requests. Time your flight so it is not rush hour at the main airport, tell the controller in plain English (like 'my house'). At that point you may get vectors or simply "proceed as requested." If the controller can't comply due to traffic he/she will tell you. In my experience all of these folks are completely comfortable conversing in plain English and very willing to help where possible.
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If I just said 'my house' and they vectored me to it, I'd be getting a little paranoid.:yikes:
 
luvflyin said:
If I just said 'my house' and they vectored me to it, I'd be getting a little paranoid.:yikes:
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Well, you have to tell them where it is. :)

" ... we'd like to come across the field down to the mall, make a U-turn and come back out the way we came in ..." has worked fine for me too. There is a route they can usually give you at 4500' that goes right across the field perpendicular to the parallels that they normally are using. It's frequently used for transit between two of the satellite airports. So I set myself up for that prior to making the request.
 
airdale said:
Well, you have to tell them where it is. :)

" ... we'd like to come across the field down to the mall, make a U-turn and come back out the way we came in ..." has worked fine for me too. There is a route they can usually give you at 4500' that goes right across the field perpendicular to the parallels that they normally are using. It's frequently used for transit between two of the satellite airports. So I set myself up for that prior to making the request.
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Lol, yeah, just havin a little fun with what you said literally. If it was my girlfriends house I'd be gettin really pizzed:rofl:
 
Request flight following for doing some maneuvers and give them the areas you'll be in. Under the Bravo is a great place to be in contact with ATC.
 
once you switch to garmin pilot this all becomes a non-issue
 
I’d tell them it’s for photography so they get that you want a specific location and not a general area.
 
Just to pile on..... Yup, just call 'em up and ask for what you want in plain english. We do it fairly often for ''over their house' rides, etc. ATC out of CLE is a great group of folks to work with.

Jim
 
Nick Kan said:
Lets say I want to fly over my house which is south of KCLE, I have the area circled in the image. I know I will likely wanting to talk to Cleveland approach but what do I request from them if I want to just go out to my house and back? It wouldn't be flight following right? I am not going to a specific airport. Any advice would be appreciated. I also have the airport I am departing from circled (KBKL).
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I've never had problems getting help from ATC for this. The conversation usually goes something like this "Approach, we would like circle at 2000 ft 5 miles north of XYZ airport for a photoshoot ." They respond with "Roger, let me know when you are ready". I fly there, and tell them "Approach, we will be circling here for the next 10 minutes". ATC responds "Roger, proceed as requested".
 
This is my biweekly reminder that, if you are VFR, you do not need ATC’s permission to do basically anything in class E airspace. You can request flight following, but the radar services that provides are not clearances or limitations on where or how you fly. The traffic advisories would be handy for what you are doing and it’s polite to tell ATC what you’re up to so they don’t get confused about it. But none of that is strictly necessary to go sight-seeing.
 
Being outside of the Bravo airspace unless you don't want anyone to know where you live there's nothing wrong with telling them you want to circle your house. You need to understand that you are just letting them know what you're doing, you're not asking for permission.
 
Just to add (and not knowing how often or comfortable you are speaking with ATC)… I find it works to my favor when I have a non-standard or “plain English” request that I’ll contact them and say “VFR request” or “question, when you have a moment” or something concise. That’ll allow them to sequence your conversation in with everything else going on. Also, sometimes I’ll say “question”, even though I’m about to tell them my intentions.
 
I would definitively call approach. It's simple and easy. "Approach, N12345 off of Burke, 2500 heading southeast for site seeing will advise when circling"

Then get a squawk and go.
 
For years, I have been reading snippets of forum advice that "you don't have to contact ATC'" or even specific legalistic advice to avoid contacting ATC. That POV just amazes me. To me, ATC is a resource that, used properly, increases my safety. On a flight long ago, my wife observed: "You really like talking to those guys." "Yes."
 
"Cleveland Approach, Cessna 12345, off of Lakefront, request flight following, photo mission, 8 miles southeast."
 
“Cleveland, requesting a cleveland steamer on DJB R269 DME27”
 
Make a request to "Orbit at the Dryer 090 027 fix at 2,500 feet". Pronounce it as the "Dryer zero-niner-zero, zero-two-seven fix".
 
“Aaaaaannnnnnnddddd approach blue and white Cessna November 1234 with you at level 5000. 2 miles south of kabc requesting traffic advisories for some local sightseeing”

most importantly do not forget the Aaaaannnnd or the with you part.

if you can just call approach and give one piece of info at a time… something like this

“approach Cessna 123”

cessna123 approach

“Requesting traffic advisories Cessna 123”

123 say altitude

“ level 5000 Cessna 123”

123 say intentions

“Sightseeing south of kabc for 123”

Cessna 123, Roger, squawk 1234, Anytown altimeter 30.09. Advise if you need to proceed past downtown


The purpose of the drill is to use as much radio time as possible. Maybe throw in a meow or let’s go Brandon also for bonus points
 
I used to worry about stuff like that while flying out of the KSLC Bravo. Now I don’t. Just tell the controller what you want in plane English.

I was on an outbound local XC but wanted to circle the school I teach at for some video. Just throw in the request.
 
luvflyin said:
Lol, yeah, just havin a little fun with what you said literally. If it was my girlfriends house I'd be gettin really pizzed:rofl:
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Yeah if they know my house that's only the wife lives there... But if they know the girlfriend's house :devil:
 
Nick Kan said:
It wouldn't be flight following right? I am not going to a specific airport.
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Flight Following has noting to do with direct to a destination as a requirement to participate. If you are not direct, you just let them know what you are doing so they know your intentions that what to expect from you so they can provide radar services appropriately.
 
CLEVLAND APPROACH NAVION 5327K JUST OFF BURKE LAKEFRONT AT 2000, WE'D LIKE TO CIRCLE OVER A POINT TWELVE MILES NORTHWEST OF THE AKRON VOR ON THE 330 RADIAL.
 
A friend of mine who works at MSP ATC told me that if I were to fly inside the mode C veil and I wanted to do some sight seeing, to simply ask for "traffic advisories." I've now done this several times. I get a code, and they remind me to stay out of bravo.

It's been very handy when 'copters are flying around the same airspace. Around MSP, we also have a sizeable number of class E and D airports, so it's handy to get vectoring either around or throught those airspaces when doing a sightseeing tour.
 
My house is inside the inner ring of a C that I’m based at.

If I want to fly over an area inside the C I just simply tell them what I’m trying to do. I’ll say something like “approach (insert tail number) my house is located just inside your airspace about (insert direction and miles from the field) would like to fly over it for some sight seeing”

I’ve done this in numerous airspaces and sights and they’ve always been helpful

for areas under the airspace, like you mentioned, not required to talk to them. But sometimes I would rather and I’d call them up and just tell them what I’m doing so they are aware. Sometimes they’ll offer FF/advisories sometimes they’ll just say thanks and that’s it.
 
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