How to fly out & back in to same airport

[Andrew Pearson 1404041]

Hello all, new Vatsim pilot here. I've been trying to learn the ATC lingo and part of that has been to take a small 4-seater out, fly around, and land back where I started. I've done this successfully at least once, but ran into a problem today. I filed the flight plan as ENGM -> ENGM. First contact was "Tower, N1000B, Information Foxtrot, request VFR clearance north and start up." and the controller asked me to state intentions. In my flight plan notes, I had specified that I intended to fly north, view the scenery, and return. What exactly should I change in my flight plan in the future to specify a hobby flight?

[Robert Shearman Jr]

The controllers don't always read the notes, so, restating briefly/concisely what you plan to do is absolutely fine. If you can give them some idea of how far north you intend to go (maybe in terms of nautical miles from the field, or a major nav-aid in that area), that's all they are really looking for.

[Simon Kelsey]

Hi Andrew,

 

In the UK at least, this would be referred to as a "local flight".

 

E.g. "G-ABCD, C172 at the flying club, 2 POB information Alpha QNH 1018 request taxi for local VFR flight."

 

Otherwise I would say there's not a lot else you could say - bear in mind some controllers on VATSIM are very used to dealing with IFR flights from A to B on a SID etc and so they may not immediately know how to deal with a VFR flight. However, this is an excellent example of how VATSIM is a learning experience on both sides of the scope!

 

In your situation I think I would have replied with something along the lines of "local flight to the north of the airfield" or words to that effect.