Aero-Tips!
A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard
this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer
statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of
"there are no old, bold pilots.") It's part of what makes aviation
so exciting for all of us... just when you think you've seen it
all, along comes a scenario you've never imagined.
Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner,
master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us
-- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators, and as
representatives of the flying community. Some of them, you may have
heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we
might never have considered before, or something that didn't
"stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for
the practical test.
It is our unabashed goal that "Aero-Tips" will help our readers
become better, safer pilots -- as well as introducing our
ground-bound readers to the concepts and principles that keep those
strange aluminum-and-composite contraptions in the air... and allow
them to soar magnificently through it.
Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you
through the Aero-News Network. Suggestions for future Aero-Tips are
always welcome, as are additions or discussion of each day's tips.
Remember... when it comes to being better pilots, we're all in this
together.
Aero-Tips 05.26.06
When departing a nontowered airport for an Instrument Flight
Rules (IFR) flight you have three options to get your clearance for
departure:
- Depart in visual conditions when you are assured you can remain
in Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC), and contact Air Traffic
Control (ATC) by radio to pick up your IFR clearance in the
air;
- Contact ATC by radio from the ground at your departure airport,
through a Remote Communications Outlet on the field, or sometimes
by contacting a nearby ATC facility directly while still on the
ground; or
- Contact Flight Service by radio or telephone and obtain your
clearance with a clearance void time.
Clearance Void Time
A clearance void time is an instrument clearance that contains a
provision for the clearance to be void if the flight is not
airborne by a specific time. Depart into Instrument Meteorological
Conditions (IMC) after your "void time", even by a minute, and
you're in violation of FAR 91.173 -- flying in IMC in controlled
airspace without a clearance.
Be ready: I've had clearance void times as
short as five minutes from the time I get the clearance, though in
my experience they average 15 to 20 minutes. Be preflighted, loaded
and ready to go before you call asking for your clearance.
If you don't depart by the clearance void time you must advice
ATC as soon as possible (Note: you'll usually get an "advise
by" time as well when you are given your clearance void time).
If you don't notify ATC within 30 minutes of a void time and there
has been no further contact, ATC will assume you took off and
crashed -- triggering search and rescue operations.
Why a void time?
Unless you're departing from a tower-controlled airport, ATC
does not know precisely when you will enter controlled airspace.
They need to keep you separated from other traffic using the same
airport or the airspace around it. By granting you a window within
which you can "pop up" into controlled airspace you're assured IFR
separation requirements until you're identified on radar.
Conscientiousness caution: During a clearance
void time window, no other IFR traffic may be cleared to approach
or depart the airport. If you can safely obtain your clearance some
other way, avoid requesting a void-time departure and tying up the
airfield.
Aero-tip of the day: Review the implications
of, and procedures for, accepting a clearance void time.
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.13.24)
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