"No Speed"

[Robin Goodchild 928027]

Hi,

 

Was flying in UK airspace the other night, and was rather shocked at the bad attitude of London Control.

 

I was climbing out of Gatwick when I was given a climb to FL130 and "no speed". Being new to the type I was flying (772L), and due to a mistake in the flight plan, I had a small problem initially following a direct to fix instruction. I quickly entered the required fix to get a bearing (took all of 10 seconds), dropped into heading mode to get the aircraft turning, then proceeded to sort out the automation. During this period I remained flap 5 and 230 kts, climbing nicely to the cleared flight level.

 

As I was just getting things straightened out, the controller came back and said in a rather sarcastic tone of voice "xxx I said no speed restriction". Well excuse me, but in that situation the speed I fly is my choice. It does NOT mean fly at VMO.

 

May I suggest the regional director of VATSIM UK remind their controllers that no matter what happens, controllers should not act like pilots are the lowest form of life. There were a couple of other incidents that raised an eyebrow as to how things were being handled that night. Positively rude is how I would describe the behavior (and in one case I would say bordered on racist/discriminatory).

 

I'm deliberately not naming names, because I don't entirely understand the reason for the attitude towards one pilot in particular, but I was disgusted enough to come back and write this post to raise awareness that there is apparently a few issues that need sorting out.

 

Best regards,

Robin.

Edited September 8, 2013 at 04:44 AM by Guest

[Ernesto Alvarez 818262]

leave feedback. all "no speed" means is as you mentioned, no restriction, it doesnt mean have to fly it.

 

if it was someone on london control, they should have learned that long time ago. leave feedback

[Robin Goodchild 928027]

I had forgotten about that feature. I will do next time.

 

Best regards,

Robin.

[Jamie Fox 811029]

Hi Robin,

 

Sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with London Control. It is very unusual for us to receive a complaint of this kind and I can [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ure that London controllers are normally polite, patient and professional.

 

If you feel you have received an unsatisfactory service, VATSIM UK has a Feedback form that you can use to contact us.

 

However, if you believe that a breach of the VATSIM Code of Conduct has occurred ('positively rude' as you put it), you can contact a VATSIM Supervisor for further action, preferably at the time it is occurring.

 

I hope we see you again soon; I'm sure you will have a much more pleasant experience next time.