Radar contact before squawk

I learned something Friday night while getting in some night solo time. I
called Whidbey Approach for a few minutes of flight following and possibly
clipping their Class C, and the controller annonced radar contact, and then
issued a squawk. I hadn't given my position (I wasn't too sure where I was
anyway :-) ). He apparently didn't find it necessary to talk to me after I
popped up with the discrete code.

I was probably the only VFR target in his entire airspace, so there was no
ambiguity. Still, question for the controllers, is it standard procedure to
announce radar contact to an untagged target?

-- David Brooks

Ooops, wrong newsgroup (since this is a VFR question). Putting that right.

"David Brooks" wrote in message
...
I learned something Friday night while getting in some night solo time. I
called Whidbey Approach for a few minutes of flight following and possibly
clipping their Class C, and the controller annonced radar contact, and
then
issued a squawk. I hadn't given my position (I wasn't too sure where I was
anyway :-) ). He apparently didn't find it necessary to talk to me after I
popped up with the discrete code.

I was probably the only VFR target in his entire airspace, so there was no
ambiguity. Still, question for the controllers, is it standard procedure
to
announce radar contact to an untagged target?

-- David Brooks

I've gotten that as well, usually when I've provided a specific location and
altitude during quiet periods were there is no ambiguity. Usually they'll
say "radar contact, standby for squawk code" while they enter me into the
system for a flight following.

The fact that you didn't provide a position at all is interesting, but
perhaps there was no other VFR traffic in his sector. Were you flying at
4am or something? If its a rental, maybe he recognized the "N" number to be
associated with a particular departure airport. Or maybe he's psychic.

"David Brooks" wrote in message
...
I learned something Friday night while getting in some night solo time. I
called Whidbey Approach for a few minutes of flight following and possibly
clipping their Class C, and the controller annonced radar contact, and
then
issued a squawk. I hadn't given my position (I wasn't too sure where I was
anyway :-) ). He apparently didn't find it necessary to talk to me after I
popped up with the discrete code.

I was probably the only VFR target in his entire airspace, so there was no
ambiguity. Still, question for the controllers, is it standard procedure
to
announce radar contact to an untagged target?

-- David Brooks

"Brad Z" wrote in message
news:%Su7c.56442$_w.905441@attbi_s53...
I've gotten that as well, usually when I've provided a specific location
and
altitude during quiet periods were there is no ambiguity. Usually they'll
say "radar contact, standby for squawk code" while they enter me into the
system for a flight following.

The fact that you didn't provide a position at all is interesting, but
perhaps there was no other VFR traffic in his sector. Were you flying at
4am or something? If its a rental, maybe he recognized the "N" number to
be
associated with a particular departure airport. Or maybe he's psychic.get
in

Whidbey Appoach airspace is comparatively small, and I wasn't kidding that I
was almost certainly the only VFR target around, although it was 8pm on a
clear Friday. Nobody but me and an IFR practice were talking to him anyway.
It's a rental so you're right, he could have known where I was heading from.
50% of the time it's a trainee behind the mike, so I may have jumped to an
unfair conclusion...


"David Brooks" wrote in message
...
I learned something Friday night while getting in some night solo time.
I
called Whidbey Approach for a few minutes of flight following and
possibly
clipping their Class C, and the controller annonced radar contact, and
then
issued a squawk. I hadn't given my position (I wasn't too sure where I
was
anyway :-) ). He apparently didn't find it necessary to talk to me after
I
popped up with the discrete code.

I was probably the only VFR target in his entire airspace, so there was
no
ambiguity. Still, question for the controllers, is it standard procedure
to
announce radar contact to an untagged target?

-- David Brooks

It's no surprise he knows where you are. In the UK the emergency frequency
controllers know your position by triangulation of the radio signal. Last
time I tested it, they gave me my position within four seconds after I
called them. This was without me giving any indication of my location.

Most serious radio facilities have this facility here, and I am sure they
had it also at Whidby, it's a busy bit of airspace.

John

"David Brooks" wrote in message
...
"Brad Z" wrote in message
news:%Su7c.56442$_w.905441@attbi_s53...
I've gotten that as well, usually when I've provided a specific location
and
altitude during quiet periods were there is no ambiguity. Usually
they'll
say "radar contact, standby for squawk code" while they enter me into
the
system for a flight following.

The fact that you didn't provide a position at all is interesting, but
perhaps there was no other VFR traffic in his sector. Were you flying
at
4am or something? If its a rental, maybe he recognized the "N" number
to
be
associated with a particular departure airport. Or maybe he's
psychic.get
in

Whidbey Appoach airspace is comparatively small, and I wasn't kidding that
I
was almost certainly the only VFR target around, although it was 8pm on a
clear Friday. Nobody but me and an IFR practice were talking to him
anyway.
It's a rental so you're right, he could have known where I was heading
from.
50% of the time it's a trainee behind the mike, so I may have jumped to an
unfair conclusion...


"David Brooks" wrote in message
...
I learned something Friday night while getting in some night solo
time.
I
called Whidbey Approach for a few minutes of flight following and
possibly
clipping their Class C, and the controller annonced radar contact, and
then
issued a squawk. I hadn't given my position (I wasn't too sure where I
was
anyway :-) ). He apparently didn't find it necessary to talk to me
after
I
popped up with the discrete code.

I was probably the only VFR target in his entire airspace, so there
was
no
ambiguity. Still, question for the controllers, is it standard
procedure
to
announce radar contact to an untagged target?

-- David Brooks

Still, question for the controllers, is it standard procedure to
announce radar contact to an untagged target?

Happens occasionally with our flight school's airplanes. They
obviously recognize the tail number and know where we are.

It's a bit annoying, actually, since I have normally prepared the
student for a different sequence of dialog and it really throws them
off.

David Brooks wrote:
I learned something Friday night while getting in some night solo time. I
called Whidbey Approach for a few minutes of flight following and possibly
clipping their Class C, and the controller annonced radar contact, and then
issued a squawk. I hadn't given my position (I wasn't too sure where I was
anyway :-) ). He apparently didn't find it necessary to talk to me after I
popped up with the discrete code.

I was probably the only VFR target in his entire airspace, so there was no
ambiguity. Still, question for the controllers, is it standard procedure to
announce radar contact to an untagged target?



Yes.

David Brooks ) wrote:

I was probably the only VFR target in his entire airspace, so there was no
ambiguity. Still, question for the controllers, is it standard procedure to
announce radar contact to an untagged target?

I get this a lot when returning into Syracuse, NY (KSYR) class C airspace.
I still include my position report when replying to the squawk code, just
to be redundant.

--
Peter












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"David Brooks" wrote in message
...

I learned something Friday night while getting in some night solo time. I
called Whidbey Approach for a few minutes of flight following and
possibly clipping their Class C, and the controller annonced radar
contact, and then issued a squawk. I hadn't given my position (I wasn't
too sure where I was anyway :-) ). He apparently didn't find it necessary
to talk to me after I popped up with the discrete code.

I was probably the only VFR target in his entire airspace, so there was
no ambiguity. Still, question for the controllers, is it standard
procedure
to announce radar contact to an untagged target?


No. He was guessing. It may have been a good guess, but that's not proper
radar identification.

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
nk.net...

"David Brooks" wrote in message
...

I was probably the only VFR target in his entire airspace, so there was
no ambiguity. Still, question for the controllers, is it standard
procedure
to announce radar contact to an untagged target?


No. He was guessing. It may have been a good guess, but that's not
proper
radar identification.

It's probably a good thing Bud Turner is no longer (a) at KNUW (b)
apparently online. He might have felt it his duty to go stop a practice that
seems to work fine :-)

-- David Brooks