Newps wrote in message news:OXDmb.21587$mZ5.80201@attbi_s54...

The controller would say "the field is IFR say intentions." This is the
pilots warning that you can't land VFR, in case you somehow didn't get
the weather. If he comes back and says "I want to land." then I get to
treat him like the idiot he is.

Y'know, I sure hope this isn't exactly your SOP.

I was flying along, minding my own business VFR over a layer
one day, getting flight following from ZKC while heading for
southern MO. The layer was already broken, and the ASOS at
our destination airport was reporting clear so I wasn't too
worried about getting down.

I was listening to the female controller work a couple flights
over by Lake of the Ozarks. One plane, VFR evidently, was
asking for info about VFR wx conditions in sort of a strange way.
Suddenly a male voice took over and asked the pilot "say
your conditions of flight" then directly "are you IMC?" He
was very gentle and non-judgemental and provided a vector towards
a nearby airport, then rerouted a couple of IFR planes a bit.

Evidently it was a trainee controller working a pilot who'd
blundered into clouds and was trying to get out. The female
controller had kind of been "treating him like an idiot" but
something clued her superviser to a different possibility.
After a couple minutes the female voice took back over,
sounding a little flustered.

So, someone calls up and says "I want to land" when you've
told him the field is IFR. Now maybe he's a scofflaw idiot.

But maybe he's a relatively honest idiot -- someone who made
a mistake and got wx'd over his head and just doesn't remember
what "sVFR" is or how you ask for it. I know I've had those
"wheel spinning but the hamster's dead" moments myself, not in
this regard but in others.

In those circs, sure seems like a better SOP to ask "do you
require assistance?" or "are you requesting special VFR clearance?"
and ask the pilot to phone from the ground to suss him out and
decide if you're dealing with an honest idiot or a scofflaw jerk
then just "treat him like the idiot he is" and maybe have him
go away flustered and bend something.

Anyway, if I get into trouble someday I sure hope I draw the
male supe with the nice voice and not the "treat him like an
idiot until proven otherwise" trainee controller.

JMO of course.
Sydney