Air Traffic Control Clearances and Procedures (Instrument Rating – Airplane, Area of Operation III)
Air Traffic Control Clearances and Procedures (Area of Operation III)
This domain tests whether you can receive, decode, read back, and then fly an IFR clearance exactly as issued - and what to do when the radio or the plan falls apart.
Clearance anatomy and required readbacks
A full route clearance contains CRAFT: clearance limit, route, altitude (including any "expect" altitudes), departure frequency, and transponder code. You must read back altitude assignments, the altimeter setting, runway assignments, hold-short instructions, and any expect-further-clearance time; a bare "roger" is never sufficient. A void time means you must be airborne before it expires. "Cleared as filed" means the route in your filed flight plan, not the route you briefed.
Climb via and descend via
"Climb via SID" means fly the lateral path and cross the published altitudes; you still must comply with the charted top altitude, and you need a new clearance to climb higher. "Descend via STAR" clears you to descend on the charted vertical path; "descend via the STAR except maintain 8,000" means hold 8,000 until the charted path would take you lower.
Worked example
"N12345 is cleared to the Prairie VOR, hold southwest on the 225 radial, maintain 4,000, expect further clearance at 1545." Reasoning: "hold southwest" places the pattern southwest of the fix, so the inbound leg tracks northeast along the 225 radial - inbound course 045°, the radial's reciprocal. Turns are standard (right) unless left turns are stated. 4,000 is an assigned altitude, not an expect altitude, so it is read back, and EFC 1545 anchors your lost-communications decision.
Lost communications (91.185)
Fly the route you were assigned, then vectored, then expected; fly the highest of your assigned altitude, your expected altitude, and the MEA; leave the clearance limit at your EFC time, or as close as possible to your ETA if no EFC was given.
Traps that cost marks
Descending below the last assigned altitude before established on a published segment; treating "expect" altitudes as clearances; turning the wrong way in a hold; forgetting the EFC; and reading "maintain 5,000 until established" as ending at the first fix. Holding speed limits: 200 KIAS at and below 6,000 ft, 230 KIAS from 6,001 to 14,000 ft, 265 KIAS above 14,000 ft.