For US student pilots
How to request VFR flight following
Flight following is the radar service a VFR pilot asks for: traffic advisories, safety alerts and, when the controller has time, a hand-off from one facility to the next all the way to your destination. It is not automatic, and the first call is where most student pilots freeze.
This guide covers the request, what comes back, how to answer a traffic advisory, and the transponder codes and words that go with it.
Flight following & radar services for VFR
A radar facility will give a VFR aircraft traffic advisories, safety alerts, limited vectors and sequencing, workload permitting. Ask for it; it is not automatic. [AIM 4-1-15, 4-1-17, 4-1-18]
- The request
- Call sign, type, position, altitude, destination, “request VFR flight following”. Keep the first call short on a busy frequency and give details when asked. [AIM 4-1-18 a 3]
- Squawk and ident
- You will be assigned a code; read it back. Ident only when asked. [AIM 4-1-20 d]
- “Radar contact”
- You are identified; the controller may add your position and the altimeter — read back the altimeter.
- Monitor the frequency
- Stay on it; tell the controller before changing altitude or frequency. [AIM 4-1-15 b 2]
- Vectors are advisory
- “Suggested heading” — you remain responsible for VFR and for terrain. Read back a heading you are given. [AIM 4-1-17]
- Ending it
- Ask to terminate, or hear “radar service terminated, squawk VFR, frequency change approved” — acknowledge, then set 1200. [AIM 4-1-15 b 2]
Traffic advisories & how to answer
The controller gives traffic as a clock position, a distance, a direction of travel or relative movement, and the type and altitude if known. [JO 7110.65 2-1-21]
Traffic, eleven o’clock, one zero miles, southbound, converging, Cessna, one seven thousand.
- Traffic in sight
- You have it. [P/CG]
- Negative contact
- You cannot see it — you may ask for a vector to avoid it. Also: unable to raise ATC on a frequency. [P/CG]
- Not “roger”, not “looking”
- “Looking” is not a P/CG term; “roger” tells the controller nothing about whether you see the traffic.
Transponder & squawk codes
- 1200
- VFR, unless ATC assigns a code. Altitude reporting on. [AIM 4-1-20 5 (a)]
- 7500
- Hijack. Never select it by accident — when changing codes, avoid passing through 7500, 7600 or 7700. [AIM 4-1-20 e]
- 7600
- Radio communications failure.
- 7700
- Emergency. Squawk it if you cannot immediately reach a facility. [AIM 6-3-2 a 2]
- Squawk (code)
- Set the code with altitude reporting. “Ident” — press the ident button, only when asked. “Squawk standby” — standby. “Squawk VFR” — 1200. [AIM 4-1-20 f]
Make the call to a controller who answers
TowerTalk's Exercise H puts you on with an approach control for flight following, at a real US airport with the current weather, and grades each call against FAA phraseology.
Related
Study aid, written in our own words from the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual (Change 3, 7/9/26) and the Pilot/Controller Glossary, with paragraph references so you can check each point. Last reviewed 9 September 2026; awaiting review by a US flight instructor. It does not reproduce those documents and is not a substitute for them — always defer to the AIM, the current FAA publications, your instructor and your examiner. TowerTalk is not approved or endorsed by the FAA.