I'll preface all of this by stating I haven't flown out of EGLL, and it's been quite a while since I've been out of anywhere in the UK, so I may be off on somethings, but here goes:
Originally Posted by
FlyBoyd
I have only ever heard "flash" from USN/USMC jet dudes.
Also, I haven't flown overseas in 11 years but is it common now to tell tower you are airborne? I always get/got told to switch departure and have never initiated the call unless tower was slow to switch me.
I think "flash" is definitely some super-secret military talk designed to sound cool
. The FAA/ICAO standard phraseology is "Squawk Ident." They'll set the code in the transponder before pushback, and typically no further mention will be made of it in an area such as London. The controller will see the code along with their radar target, but won't need them to ident.
Regarding telling tower you are airborne, no - that's not typical. In fact in some places, the tower calls and tells you what you're airborne time was; many places they will tell you when to contact departure. Often specific instructions for switching to departure at larger airports are included in the Departure Procedures (DP), with variations including to: switch immediately after takeoff without being told by tower, switching at a specific altitude or fix, or NOT switching until specifically being told by the tower.
In the case of the MID departures from EGLL, the DP says "When instructed contact LONDON Control." So to actually answer the question, I wouldn't say anything until Tower told me "contact control."
Another voice greeted the cockpit via the radio: ‘Cali Two Zero Seven, Departure, good evening. Cross 14 DME from London at flight level six zero.’
‘Roger, Cali Two Zero Seven, Cross the London 14 DME fix at flight level six zero.’
According to my Jepps (see attached image below), 6000 is still an altitude, as Transition Altitude is 6000' - climbing above 6000' you would transition to Levels.
To get nit-picky (what SHOULD be done, not what might actually happen):
‘Never get tired of that sound,’ Robert smiled in a lighter tone, referring to the power behind the DC-10 at takeoff. ‘Tower, Cali Two Zero Seven, we are airbourne.’
Sterile cockpit rule below 10,000' - no extraneous conversation allowed.
‘Departure, good evening,’ Robert said warmly, ‘Cali Two Zero Seven, climbing through eight hundred feet to four thousand feet, approaching LON Delta Seven on WOBUN Three Foxtrot departure heading to Bovingdon, with you.’
Another voice greeted the cockpit via the radio: ‘Cali Two Zero Seven, Departure, good evening. At LON Delta Seven turn right onto MID VOR Romeo Three Five Seven. Climb and maintain four thousand feet at LON Delta Ten.’
‘Roger, Cali Two Zero Seven, at LON Delta Seven turn right onto MID VOR Romeo Three Five Seven. Climb and maintain four thousand feet at LON Delta Ten.’
One of the purposes of DP's is to standardize routings and reduce radio transmissions. The flight would typically receive a clearance such as "CALI 270, CLEARED SAN FRANCISCO VIA WOBURN 3 FOXTROT DEPARTURE, FLIGHT PLAN ROUTE, MAINTAIN SIX THOUSAND FEET, SQUAWK 1234" from HEATHROW delivery. After takeoff, the crew will then fly that routing without further specific instruction from ATC.
On each initial contact with ATC, the pilots will give their call sign, current altitude, assigned altitude (if different from current), and any special information such as a heading or airspeed assigned by ATC, eg: "CALI TWO SEVEN ZERO, TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED CLIMBING SIX THOUSAND."
The controller would typically respond with "CALI TWO SEVEN ZERO, RADAR CONTACT, MAINTAIN SIX THOUSAND FEET."
The crew will comply with routing and altitude restrictions on the DP and the altitude assigned by ATC. If ATC needs to modify this routing, then they will issue additional instructions, for example if the following weren't already part of the DP, the following would be phrased as:
At LON Delta Seven turn right onto MID VOR Romeo Three Five Seven. Climb and maintain four thousand feet at LON Delta Ten.’
"CALI TWO SEVEN ZERO, FLY HEADING 300, INTERCEPT MIDHURST THREE FIVE SEVEN DEGREE RADIAL, CROSS LONDON VOR TEN DME (pronounced 'DEE EM EEE') AT FOUR THOUSAND FEET." The crew would read this back in similar fashion.
Most of the radio communication on departure will be a series of altitude changes, clearances direct to fixes further down the route, and frequency changes to subsequent controllers
"CALI TWO SEVEN ZERO, CLIMB LEVEL ONE HUNDRED"
"CALI TWO SEVEN ZERO, VACATING SIX THOUSAND, CLIMBING LEVEL ONE HUNDRED"
CALI TWO SEVEN ZERO, ROUTE DIRECT DIKAS"
"ROUTE DIRECT DIKAS, CALI TWO SEVEN ZERO"
CALI TWO SEVEN ZERO, CONTACT SHANNON, ONE TWO FIVE DECIMAL TWO SEVEN FIVE"
"SHANNON ONE TWO FIVE DECIMAL TWO SEVEN FIVE"
And so on. Here are a couple of links if you want to really go off the deep end with all of this. This first one is relatively brief, the second is a very large document on UK ATC procedures.
Sorry to go so long with this.
http://www.skybrary.aero/bookshelf/books/115.pdf
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP413.pdf
