In the VFR Norway 2020 there is a link to a somewhat similar “VFR UK” (The Skyway Code). It has some interesting stuff regarding services, information and infringements. Anyway, it seems like a good guide for anyone flying VFR in the UK.
Are there any rules on how long an ATS can keep you on standby without giving any guidance on how long that might be, as one might get for instance under IFR when put into the hold?
Forty minutes holding isn’t unheard of when trying to arrive VFR at Leeds on a sunny summer’s day.
flybymike wrote:
Forty minutes holding isn’t unheard of when trying to arrive VFR at Leeds on a sunny summer’s day.
Presumably not without their giving you an indication of when you can enter for your arrival?
VFR holding time at a busy time will vary with what ATC know/expect from the pilot. They can fit-in a light aircraft which makes a tight, fast, approach and lands near where it will vacate the runway. Turning final one mile out, and flying at 70kts, to taxi slowly after touchdown needs a much bigger gap in the IFR traffic.
I was really thinking about being told to “standby” when you call up for an ATZ transit, and then how long it can take for the FISO to say pass your message. It’s not something I tend to come across in this country but it seem is mentioned in a lot of previous posts for the UK, I have wondered if it can take 5 or 10 minutes or more to get back to you. There must be a limit, surely, otherwise it might appear they are taking the p1ss.
If they tell you to standby then unless they say they will get right back to you, you pretty much immediately begin to execute plan B and go around the airspace.
For most areas you are only saving 5-10 minutes by going through rather than round, so it is not worth holding for more than a minute or two. They may never come back to you, or they may come back and say sorry no transit.
I tend to try and time my initial call such that they will have a few minutes to sort the transit out before I have to turn away from the boundary.
That’s exactly correct. For example I have had many cases of Solent (EGHI) saying Standby and then forgetting about me. Best to fly around immediately – in most cases. Of course it depends to some extent on how far back you called them.
ATC delays in transit or entry granting are a prime area of CAS busts, in everything from ULs to bizjets, but of course the pilot is always at fault. You meet a lot of them at Gasco 
i cant agree.
ATC exist to provide a service. Standby is fine when they are clearly busy, but NOT forever. A short time is acceptable, but after that I am very happy to say “I am still waiting, I have requested a transit and need to know whether either it will be granted or refused”. I will do up to three orbits on the edge of CAS, and then this is my next call – frankly, if they dont like it, tough. VFR, I have done perhaps six orbits waiting for Jersey (who are almost always excellent) but that really is my limit and I am very happy to get tetchy by then. The fact is almost always they can fit you in, and they dont need to give total priority to either IFR traffic or commercial.
flybymike wrote:
Forty minutes holding isn’t unheard of when trying to arrive VFR at Leeds on a sunny summer’s day.
Presumably not without their giving you an indication of when you can enter for your arrival?
All depends. They might say expect zone entry in 10 minutes which may or may not be accurate. They might let you in and then orbit at the end of the downwind leg until you vomit. You might be some distance away from the threshold in the orbit or late downwind when a gap occurs and it’s too late to get in, or if you’re lucky you might get a chance of a high speed dive for the threshold from abeam on base leg, plonk it down and early turn off, but then a 737 up your chuff and closing, is my best way of ballsing up the landing.
