Air Law and ATC Procedures
What the exam tests
Iran CAO ATPL Air Law questions test ICAO Annex 2/11/12 and the Iran AIP, not memory of domestic statute numbers. You must know clearance content, readback, airspace classes, separation responsibility and the rules that change at the transition altitude.
Core rules
- ATC clearance is not authority to deviate from terrain/weather limits; it is an instruction to be read back in full when it contains a runway, altitude, heading, frequency or hold-short instruction.
- In controlled airspace, IFR flights receive separation; VFR flights receive traffic information and, in Class C/D, are separated from IFR.
- Position reports and clearances use magnetic tracks for level allocation: 000–179° odd thousands, 180–359° even thousands (ICAO Annex 2 table), unless AIP states otherwise.
- Lost communication: squawk 7600, continue last clearance/route, land at suitable aerodrome; 7700 emergency, 7500 unlawful interference.
Worked example
A Tehran FIR controller clears you: 'OIIX123, climb FL310, route as filed.' Your magnetic track is 120°. FL310 is an odd thousand, consistent with 000–179°. If the controller had said FL300, you should query it before accepting: the readback is the verification barrier. Reasoning: level allocation is based on magnetic track, not true track; a mismatch is a lawful reason to seek clarification.
Traps
Confusing 'cleared to enter control zone' with 'cleared to land'; reading back only the altitude; applying VFR minima inside Class D; treating a traffic information call as a clearance; forgetting that Iran AIP may publish a local transition altitude/level.