At a new facility and we have a few antennas that are depicted on the scope. I am trying to figure out if it is required to issue traffic on the antennas to vfr aircraft flying in the vicinity. I am being told that it needs to be issued and neglecting to do so is a failure to issue a safety alert. At my previous facility there was lots of mountainous terrain and we never advised vfr aircraft they were entering a higher MVA or anything similar. I am under the impression that it is the pilots responsibility to be aware of potential obstructions/terrain and said obstructions will be depicted on VFR charts. I could definitely be incorrect in my understanding and I’m just hoping for some others opinions. Thanks in advance!
Depicted obstructions and vfr aircraft
- Thread starter jmadi014
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- N90 New York Tracon
At my AF facility we would ask VFR’s if they were familiar with the antennae farm if they were headed towards it below its MVA bubble if we had time. At my Tracon now VFR obstacle clearance is up to the VFR pilot.
Safety alerts are "in your judgement" and if they're telling you it's a safety alert then you should be using the "low altitude alert, N12345, check your altitude immediately" phraseology. Not a traffic call.
Culture where I am is to give a traffic call on the antennas in the MVA bubbles, and I do it myself, but it isn't a requirement. Just good service.
This at least is something that can be objectively determined... open up the sectional and see if they are or not.
SquawkHijack
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It’s a good practice to and a nice addition to your radar service. But it is not required, tell your smartass sup they [PIC] are supposed to have a VFR sectional to reference that depicts all of that plus other bountiful morsels of information.
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