Good evening or morning all, I’d like to talk about a common occurrence while controlling on ES. That being switching frequencies without permission.
As a pilot I understand that it may not seem as a big deal because “Oh, well we are already going to switch frequencies regardless so what’s the point of giving me clearance”. There are multiple reasons why you’d need clearance.
- To ensure any potential conflicts can be cleared in a timely manner
- To keep track of all aircraft exiting and entering the airspace
- It’s good discipline to wait until authorized to switch freq.
I know there are times when the Tower or Approach controller may forget to hand you off, and it’s okay it happens all the time, should it happen simply press the " Request Frequency Change " button and you should be on your way. Regardless of how busy it is you should always adhere to the instructions that the controllers give you. Trust me one thing we always love is when pilots are patient, wait their turn and are aware of their surroundings.
On the ground, you should always switch to tower frequencies when given the “Taxi to runway” command preferably when your NEAR the runway not as soon as you start taxiing. There have been many times when I’d have a potential head-on or aircraft exiting the runway on to the active taxiway and I’d need to micromanage taxi instructions only to find out said aircraft that just started taxiing immediately switched to tower frequency therefore causing a lot of problems on the ground. Alternatively, there are pilots who still don’t switch frequencies after receiving the taxi to runway command, please note that after every taxi command there’s always a “Contact tower when ready” that clears you to switch at your convenience. But please wait until you are reasonably close to the end of the runway to switch. ( An possible exception is when doing an Interception Dep. however I believe it’s an outlier in this case ).
All in all, please be patient as there are times where stuff hits the fan and we can lose track of some of you at times. Tuning out of frequencies without permission only adds to the chaos and confusion potentially ruining not only the operation but also the fun and realism of other pilot’s flight.
Hopefully you found this educative.