How To Pickup VFR Flight Following - MzeroA Flight Training 

I love how much help the controllers give you with flight following, it makes you feel like a VIP in your little cessna. I once tried to terminate flight following early before my arrival because I just wanted to relax after listening to approach control talk nonstop for two hours and they didn’t just tell me to squawk 1200 and have a nice day, the controller saw some maneuvering traffic en route and wanted to make sure I got through there safely! Shouts out to all the controllers out there for keeping us safe.

When the controller typed you in the keyboard he gave you the squak code for his local area for Orlando approach so in a nutshell its flight following still but ,not outside say 60 nm radius of Orlando. When he changed your squak code he gave you a national airspace code so you could get flight following to anywhere in United States which includes handoffs to adjacent radar facilities.The first way he did it is quicker just to put a data tag with aircraft so he can move on to other aircraft when he's busy. If he has time he will go back and try to provide you better service. Otherwise he would say radar services terminated squak vfr frequency change approve suggest miami center 132.25 for further flight following as you are leaving the controllers airspace.. Bobby Morgan Air Traffic Controller PBI ATCT

I fly in the busy DFW area. I've visited FW Center a few times. Each time they have emphasized to me that they WANT VFR pilots to request flight following, even when they're busy. It helps them keep everyone in control and safe. Don't be afraid to call them, they are hard working people trying their best to keep you safe. They don't expect you to say everything just right. If you get corrected (usually politely) just shake it off and see it for what it is - a valuable lesson.

Just got my ppl last week and during my student pilot solo trips I always opened flight plans and used flight following. Such a great tool to use for that extra set of eyes on you. Great video as well!

What is cool, is not only flight following, but sometimes a shortcut through air space. I called for flight following through Dayton and they allowed me to pass right over the field to my destination. Talk about feeling pretty important in my C150! I loved it!

Thanks for the great videos! I'm a private pilot working on my instrument rating and had to take a brake due to an extended overseas trip for work. I'm sucking up everything I can to make it easier to get current when I get home this summer. Your videos are by far the best I've found! Thanks so much!

Jason - Great Video! That was much better than if the interaction had gone 'normally', whatever that is. I use flight following a lot and wanted to say the ATC folks in Champaign (CMI) usually respond to a cold call with a squawk code.

Nice video, I love hearing "radar contact", it's like hearing "you're not alone". In high traffic areas it's like an extra set of eyes. Out in the big empty, it's somebody to help. I had a bird strike on the way to North Las Vegas. Las Vegas Approach took me straight to VGT and handed me off to VGT tower, who cleared me number one to land.

Best video on the topic! Flew into Ktki (Dallas) using VFRFF and was very busy with approach and center. Had a lot of handoff and changes. Most video just show the normal, not what can and does happen! If you have never picked up flight following just do it! Don't be scared or overwhelmed. Just have a pencil and paper and if you are unclear about a code or freq just ask for it again! Keep learning and pushing you skills into becoming a better and SAFER pilot. -Derek (KFES)

Great video again, Jason :-) I especially like your ATC demonstrations. Please consider showing us more of these (e.g. emergency, air to air, non-towered, etc.)

Good stuff! Good to see someone so excited about what he does and is so helpful to boot! Blue skies always!

your a great instructor and love watching your videos

Love seeing someone living there passion, keep up the good work

Hey Jason, you are exactly right why newbie pilots shy away from requesting flight following or avoiding of talking to controllers for any reason other than an emergency situation. This video is a great example of it. When a controllers jump 5 steps ahead of a new pilot and confuse the heck out of them by responding a situation out of ordinary way it overwhelms and distress the new pilots. Most new pilots prepare how the training bnooks and manuals and CFIs teach them the proper by the book way of picking up a flight following. So those new pilots who may even be using some cheat sheets to talk a controller with certain expectations about what they will be hearing from them. When controller responds a non-traditional, off-the-book way response, first thing a new pilot will think if he/she made a mistake, then not to know how to behave or what to ask next and throws them off... But again it is a very good practice and advice from you to hear that pilots have to be ready to expect the unexpected at times and react/respond accordingly. Great video & advice as usual!

As always, a great video to help pilots stay safe and have fun! 😎👍🏻

Nice Video. I am not sure why people don't use this service. I always use VFR Flight following. Not only are the traffic advisories awesome, it is a source of comfort to me knowing I can get in touch with a controller at any time

Excellent video jason! All these videos are very informative, thank you!!

I'm not a PPL pilot but i fly gliders and don't normally use Flightfolllowing. But you've made a good point here that simple cold calls simply often get more complicated than they ought to. What ever - very nice video that shows what could happen.

Another great video, Jason! I was introduced to MzeroA a couple of months ago, and I immediately became an enthusiast of your channel. I'm a flight student in São Paulo, Brazil, heading for my 9th practical lesson of the private pilot course. It's always great to watch your videos to improve my listening for the ICAO certification as well. Well, let's add some comments and questions here: I believe "with you" comes from Microsoft Flight Simulator, which uses it on its virtual ATC communication. And if I got this right, at 3:55, you said "two point five" to state your altitude (2500ft), and the Jacksonville controller came back with an ATIS information you should grab (Lima), right? Just wanted to make sure I got it properly... It was great to watch such a valuable video, with all those non-standard communications, the squawk code change and the hand-off. Thank you once again for posting!

Great stuff as usual Jason…thx!😎👍🏼

I rarely get to fly right now (poor college student) and fly XC flights even less frequently. That being said, this video was a great review. Thank you!

Great video, Jason. Please consider a video that teaches who to call (for flight following) in a given area. I'm a low time pilot and I've never been quite clear on that... especially in remote areas away from large cities. Fort Worth, TX

Nice video Jason, thanks for sharing! I wanted to say thanks for the videos you make, they have helped me a lot, and will continue to help me. This past Saturday I passed my PPL check ride! Thanks again Jason!

As always, superlative insights. Thank you.

Great Video. I just happen to come across your video, and glad I did. was worth all of the 7:41 min. Thank You

I'm glad it happened that way too. Thanks Mr. Super Energetic!

I had an interesting occurrence during my long solo cross country for my student pilot requirements (so that made it even more fun) just a few days ago: I gave a cold call to the towered airspace I was approaching, and they replied with "536 squawk 3019".. I was expecting an altimeter setting in the initial response, but since he said "squawk" I complied and read that back to him. For obvious reasons, I struggled to put 3019 in the transponder which resulted in me calling back tower and stating something along the lines of one of my buttons not working, and was then given a different squawk code in what seemed like a fairly confused voice... coincidentally, 30.19 was the current altimeter setting but I was already a nervous wreck and it snowballed downhill from there. Pretty embarrassing but I made it through my landings then home.

Jason...Enjoyed your flight following with the different ANGLES THROWN IN...excellent instruction...See you at Lakeland

excellent video for me because next week i am gonna fly solo cross country and atc comminication is so hard for me, thanks jason =)

Jason, Great presentation! Keep up the good work! God bless ya!

Thanks for posting. I am a low time pilot and I have to admit that I was a little nervous about requesting flight following. I always feel like I’m bothering the controllers and that they don’t want to deal with small aircraft. I will be more apt to request from now on.

Wow, Randy White explanation is awesome ! Thanks for sharing sir

This is a good vid... and I think it's a reason that some VFR pilots don't want to worry about flight following. While it makes things safer... it does make your work load heavier. But thanks for the vid.

Great series...learning a lot!

This is absolutely my experience with NorCal Approach on my trip to the Reno Air Races. 3 handoffs, numerous advisories, it was crazy busy on the radio and at KRNO. You really need to be listening or you'll miss their calls and that can (understandably) irritate them.

Very useful! Thanks for making this video.

Hahaha..this is great. Still very helpful even through all the chaos.

As always enjoyed this class 😉👏👏

Great video, thanks for making it!

Watching this after having a flight where my instructor asked for a flight following. Good to see that your having the same craziness with ATC. LOL

The Denver departure guys up here in Colorado tend to do that a lot. I usually just want to check on the La Veta MOA and end up with flight following. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing.

Very nice teaching lessons! Thanks for the video

Hello everyone, it's great to see everyone give great positive input for others to learn. The question I have is, if under IFR you can file from starting destination, utilizing waypoints to final destination ! Why cant you utilize the same thing under VFR flight following, utilizing waypoints to your final destination? Your still under vfr rules but practicing ? I am only speaking on the behalf of pilots that have the system in their airplanes ie. Foreflight, we all know a lot of pilots use this anyway but still fly without flight following. I was just thinking outside of the box only....

Great video!

Awesome Job!

Very interesting, thank you for your video!

Wow, lots going on in this video. Thanks for doing this one, I'm going to watch it a few times so it sinks in!

Nice video.....I am glad to see this video with different scenario with Flight Following. Awesome job! I would say if you can do this as in the video you can go through any Class B airspace without problems....

Happy to see you didn't use "with you" when handed off... it's such a hard thing to resist saying because it seems to make sense, and so many of us learned it from hearing others say it... but my understanding is that controllers don't appreciate hearing "with you"... UPDATE: as I am typing this comment, you've just addressed this point at about the 5:00 mark - awesome.

Great video. How would you request flight following when going to do touch and go's at multiple airports?

Great vid thanks!

Enjoyed the video, I noticed you and Flight Chops both said don't use " With You " when talking to controllers, i find giving N number and altitude to work better. anyway awesome video

This video is very useful

Follow your videos, this one has great information. Question what information does the controller have with that squat code? Do they know where your going?

Jason, can you show us how to use the Remote Communication Outlets? I just got my license last year and still not sure when and how to use one. I do use flight following quite a bit now!

Good job Jason. Sparked some more learning from the comments! Real world experience like you documented here is the best. Seems like a lot of flying videos are edited and therefore staged. Real learning comes from the real thing. Keep up the good work!

Jason, great videos. My instructor has me saying "with you". What is incorrect about that verbiage? Thanks

I fly out of a class delta airspace, so when I contact ground, I request a departure to my destination of choice with flight following, and they will give me a squawk and a departure frequency, that way when I leave the ground, they know I'm going to be hopping on their freq. (Example: 943KD is climbing at 2200 direct st. cloud) and from there they will give me a few instructions, very simple and nice to use as far as traffic separation is concerned. Definitely can't be shy though, those controllers are busy and your talking with the big leagues.

" With you" may not be technically correct but neither is 2.5 when announcing 2 thousand 500. But, such language tends to show comfort and experience for the pilot which may also make the controller more comfortable. Would love to hear a controller's perspective.

Wow! exact same thing happened to me a couple days back on the return leg of my first x-country solo (KWLW - KEDU)!! And it really threw me off (I had not seen this video at that time). After "cold calling" Oakland Center, he simply gave me a squawk code! And then he just asked me my Aircraft type and destination (not the typical what do I want etc?) Then all of a sudden half way through I was asked to squawk VFR 1200. No handoff to Travis Approach as I was expecting. I was not sure if flight following was terminated and I was supposed to continue on my own? or was I supposed to call Travis Approach by myself halfway through? Was I even allowed/approved to change frequencies? I was definitely overwhelmed, but I ignored the whole thing and kept flying back (and just being vigilant with my visual scans).

Great Video. Thanks

Yes that's correct usually by providing a destination airport is the key . Sometimes pilots just ask for flight following northbound and they only receive a local vfr code. The Best thing any pilot can do is visit local air traffic facility. You will learn something, it's pretty cool , and it's free. Visit Tower and approach control . Have a good day .

Great video. Will need to break the habit of "with you". Question. Can flight following clear you through a restricted area? We are going from Punta Gorda to Vero this weekend R2901 B H N is just slightly in our path. And thanks for reminding us that we are always learning. all the best neal KPGD

Jason, I have a question: My student pilot 3rd Class med. will expire May 31, 2017, after it expires can I fly with just my Florida driver licence? Or do I have to go back through that FAA ordeal to renew it? Rich

really efficient and good vedio

Great Video, Jason. Sometimes it happens that way. I have to stop saying "With You" though.... ;) Bad habit.

@MzeroA do you need to file a VFR flight plan in order to get flight following, or can you just randomly request it?

Thanks!

You da man!

Greetings, I am not clear about transition hand-off from FF to tower at destination airport. Do I listen to destination ATIS and advise FF or will FF tell me to contact destination airport or do I declare to FF I have destination insight.

hi there big fan here ...so lets say you fly in an unfamiliar area and you want flight following, how do you find the right frequency for that area? thanks a lot

Question...While on VFR flight following... if I fly enroute fly through B, C, D airspace, will FF clear me into the airspace or do I need to contact the airspace tower while on FF?

There are times where ATC hands you off to a tower and other times they don't. How do you know when the tower is expecting you and when they don't? It sounded similar that I didn't know how to tell the difference between both situation

Read somewhere about two or three phrases that are not "kosher" or can be annoying to ATC including "in the box" which I believe I heard Jason use...good or no?

When using VFR flight following into controlled airspace, does the center pass us over to the tower controller or is it the responsibility of pilot to talk to control tower?

Another nice video ;) Here in Portugal in order to use the Flight Following you need to fill a Flight Plan, otherwise you will not be allowed to use the service. If you call them without a filed Flight Plan they will not give you information and ask for you to fill one in the air on the "AFIL" frequency.

Great and enthusiastic video, thank you for sharing! Remember that all numbers shall have a description, what is 2,5 at 3:53? 2500 feet altitude, or mach 2,5 XD Hahaha!

what do you use for filming these videos?

You use VFR to go to your destination without an approach request?

Whats the differences between Radar Vectors and Flight Following?

So this is something I'm curious about, if you have VFR flight following with a controller and I wanted to get a weather update from a FSS, would I advise the controller of going off freq. for a few minutes for this reason and contacting the controller once back with them or what? What's a good/proper procedure for doing this?

How do you find the right frequency for the area you are in? Yesterday I was calling Boston approach, but the sectional gives a few different frequencies, and I always seem to call the wrong one for the region I'm in.

Hey Jason! I normally fly out of DeLand, and will often request VFR Flight Following from Daytona Approach. I understand time is a luxury when it's busy and multiple transmissions are involved. When should a pilot use the "get their attention first" technique, over simply get everything in through one call?

How much caffeine do you drink on a daily basis? Love the energy

Nah Jason you just got VIP treatment 😂😂

Flight following works great if you live in LA county. It’s too much of a hassle to contact every tower to ask to transition through airspace

Great video... I didn't realize that 'with you' is incorrect lingo. Besides the cold call, what else do you suggest for the initial call-up(s) to a new handoff frequency? I.e. for the altitude check you mentioned, could you say something like "Orlando approach, Cessna 7159Q, (silence...), can you do a quick altitude check please?"

My instructor taught me that it is VFR advisories not Flight Following. Is there a difference and if so why does everyone use Flight Following. Keep up the great Videos I love them thanks.

Hi, Did he say a good pilot's always learning, right ? Seems very true. J-F

Great video. Could you make a video on how to get VFR following from the ground at a tower controlled airport? Or just a quick overview in a comment. Thanks!

Question: Why would I use flight following if I have a GPS? Should I use it for long cross-countries (500mi) or use a cross country flight plan?

Hey, I took my check ride out of x23 (Umatilla)!

When you picked up Jacks Approach and said 2.5, were you referring to altitude or 2.5 mile out?

Could you potentially request VFR flight following prior to take off? Say I'm departing a (non busy) tower-controlled airport and planing to travel a long distance. It might be less overwhelming to get VFR flight following already "set up" prior to departure. particularly for beginning pilots.

Well, I tried getting flight following shortly after taking off from my home field of KSMX. I was just going to fly locally, but the weather was so nice that I decided to go visit my mother in KSMO. Santa Monica is a very bust airport in the LA basin so FF was a must since I did not file a flight plan. If I know that I'm going to KSMO then will request FF before take off and get a squak code, Anyway, the controller (Santa Barbara Approach) was very upset with me because I did not request FF before taking off. I got confused and asked him if I should contact the Tower and coordinate FF with them while I was in the air? AM I MISSING SOMETHING HERE?

The one thing I don't get about atc communications is the whole, "information (letter)." What does it mean to get information lima or some other letter?

When the controller replies with your callsign and tells you to “Go ahead,” do you need to repeat their callsign (i.e. “Jax Approach)? Just like you’ve said with the pilot knowing who they are because of the placard with the tail number in the aircraft, doesn’t the controller know who he or she is? I know that is a two-second transmission, but I would think less is more with radio transmissions.

Exact same things happened to me on my first solo cross country.

Jason, can I get flight following in a light sport aircraft without a transponder?

Would love to get back flying vfr after several years of non flying. Any suggestions?