Flight Training - October 2019 - 47

IFR TIP

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PICKING UP AN IFR CLEARANCE AT A NONTOWERED AIRPORT
BY SARAH DEENER

CHECK THE CURRENT chart supplement for clearance delivery phone numbers at

nontowered airports.
YOU'VE FILED YOUR IFR FLIGHT PLAN, preflighted the airplane, and are ready to go.

You're just missing one thing: a clearance. You're used to picking up clearances easily
from ground control at your towered home airport, but how should you do so here?
Some airports have clearance
MNEMONICS
delivery frequencies listed in the
chart supplement, but not this one.
You try reaching approach control
Elements of a clearance
from the ground, but get no response.
The ceilings are high enough that
IFR clearances include critical information in a
standardized format. Many pilots use the acronym
you could pick up a clearance in the
CRAFT to anticipate the information they'll receive:
air, but you don't dare climb into the
Class B shelf above you. Now what?
Clearance limit. The end point of the clearance-
often the destination.
Formerly, you might contact
flight service at 800-WX-BRIEF and
Route. Particularly in busy airspace such as the
Northeast, this may be different from what you filed.
have the briefer relay a frequency to
you from air traffic control. But that
Altitude. The initial altitude. ATC may also inform
practice is ending, and an increasing
you when to expect an altitude change, but you'll
still need a separate clearance when the time comes.
number of airports now have a simpler option: Call ATC directly.
Frequency. Tune to this frequency upon departure.
The June 20 issue of the chart supTransponder. Your transponder code. Squawk this
plement includes a new batch of phone
code the entire IFR flight-no squawking VFR until
numbers pilots can use to receive or
you cancel IFR or close your flight plan.
cancel IFR clearances directly with the
At airports without a control tower, you may receive
appropriate ATC facility. This addia clearance with a void time. If you're not airborne
tion, which includes numbers for 27
by that time, notify ATC of your intentions as soon
as possible.
approach/departure control facilities
and 20 air route traffic control centers,
is part of a modernization effort that the FAA says is meant to streamline the process and
reduce the risk of error in clearance delivery. Phone numbers have been added to entries
for hundreds of public-use airports since the program began in 2017.
This gives pilots three main ways to obtain a clearance at a nontowered airport:
* Check for a dedicated frequency in the chart supplement for ATC or for flight service,
which might be over a remote communications outlet or ground communications outlet.

COURTESY THE FAA

GETTING CRAFT-Y

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Flight Training - October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - October 2019