Can you identify Flight Information Centre frequencies on VNC and VTA Charts?

In this video, Conrad lays this out very simply and provides great details about using this frequency for making Position Reports. Whether you’re taking your Private Pilot Ground School or your Commercial Pilot Ground School… this is a great reminder ALL of us!

Flight Information Centre Frequency and Position Reports

Pilot Tip – Flight Information Centre Frequency and Pilot Report

[00:00:00] [00:00:00] When looking at a VNC, how can one know which is the most appropriate FIC frequency to call up on the radio in order to ammend a flight plan? The second part of his question… when flying VFR, I’ve read that at times it’s smart to give a position report to the Flight Information Center. If so, when would such a time be? Any examples would be appreciated.

[00:00:29] Okay. So we’ll try and deal with those two things. 

[00:00:32] So what we have in this example is actually a VTA chart. But for this question, the symbols are going to apply to both the VNC and the VTA chart because they are the same, so there’s no difference. But for clarity, we’re using the VTA chart because it’s bigger and it’s a little clearer. So down here where I’m pointing right now, we have so-called “heavy-lined box.” And the heavy-lined box always indicates the physical presence of a Flight Service Station at the airport where it’s [00:01:00] located.

[00:01:00] And you can see that the frequency that they have is 123.25 MHz, but that’s not the frequency to find the FIC. We look up here and we see that in this case. The FIC is London noted by the bracketed name at the bottom. And on top is the frequency to contact the FIC, which in this case happens to be 126.7 MHz.

[00:01:28] Very often the Flight Information Centre frequency is no longer 126.7 MHz. This happens to be an example of where that frequency remains.  The word, “St Catherines” simply indicates the physical location of the Remote Communications Outlet. So to answer the first part of Derek’s question, look for one of these where you’ve got a link to the FIC, and it’s going to be with this bracketed name on the bottom.

[00:01:57] And that’s what you want to look for. Look for the bracketed name, [00:02:00] the frequency’s on top. That’s the first question. How do you know which frequency to use? Find the Remote Communications Outlet and look for the bracketed name. So you know who to call in this case, it would be London Radio. 

[00:02:16] The second part of Derek’s question: “When flying VFR, he’s read that it’s good to give a position report.”

[00:02:22] VFR position reporting is a really good idea. Whenever you’re on a longer trip in an area that is poorly served by radar, or maybe no radar at all, or it’s fairly remote. And this is something that’s done more frequently in those types of situations. 

[00:02:40] The other thing that I always recommend to my students is whenever possible use VFR flight following, whatever the local Air Traffic Control Center is, because that’s essentially on all the time and you’re going to get all the benefits of position reporting.

[00:02:54] With real-time following on radar when that’s not available, you want to make those [00:03:00] position reports to the FIC and the time to do it. Also, you should make regular position reports, especially if you’re on a long trip, because that’s going to shorten the time for search and rescue to find you should it become necessary.

[00:03:14] Also remember that if your flight plan is off by, you know, somewhere close to half an hour, you’re using up a lot of your search and rescue time. Make sure that you update your ETA and with GPS, this is a pretty easy thing to do. 

[00:03:30] So hopefully that answers that for Derek.