Ways to make IFR departure

7 Answers

1. 
   

   
   

   TK Knees on Jan 19, 2014

   1) File no DP in your flight plan. That will eliminate flying the SID you don’t want to fly. You’re under radar control so figure they likely will vector you along a similar routing though so plan on it for fuel purposes. Likewise expect to fly the ODP until they get radar contact on you and turn you off of it.

   2) If you’re not given a DP but rather just a clearance to takeoff, you must either depart with a VFR climb clearance to your first fix or use the ODP.

   +2 Votes 2 Votes  0 Votes

2. 
   

   
   

   John D Collins on Jan 19, 2014

   Obstacle clearance is your responsibility. If you follow a DP and meet the climb requirements (standard is 200 feet per NM), you are guaranteed obstacle and terrain clearance until reaching the MEA. If an airport does not have a specific DP for a runway, then the departure is considered a diverse departure and if you climb to 400 AGL before your first turn and use a climb rate that provides at least 200 feet per NM, you are assured of obstacle and terrain clearance. If you are cleared via an ODP or SID, you must comply with the clearance or decline it if your aircraft can’t meet the specified obstacle clearance. Otherwise, flying an ODP is a pilot option, but is highly recommended.

   You should read the AIM “5−2−8. Instrument Departure Procedures (DP) − Obstacle Departure Procedures (ODP) and Standard Instrument Departures (SID)”

   To your specific statements, although technically it is legal to fly in IMC in class G airspace without a clearance, it can be very dangerous unless you have an IFR clearance that is effective on entering controlled airspace prior to your departure. Flying around in IMC 700 feet or lower above the ground in the vicinity of an airport that has instrument approaches without an ATC clearance has been ruled to be a violation of 91.13 “Careless or reckless operation”. Bottom line – don’t even contemplate it. If the conditions are VFR and you have an option for continued VFR to your destination or departure airport, then departing VFR and picking up your clearance enroute is reasonable, but you must anticipate the distinct possibility that you might not be provided an IFR clearance.

   A SID or ODP is not an airspace category question as they apply to departures from airports located in class G, E, D, C, and B airspace. A SID requires a clearance and must be flown if a clearance includes one. If an ODP is included in a clearance it must be flown, but it is a pilot option to fly an ODP when a SID or ODP is not included in a clearance. For any SID or ODP, the climb gradient must be complied with. An ODP may not be flown if a SID is included in a clearance as the SID provides for obstacle and terrain clearance.

   If you don’t want to fly a SID, you can add in your flightplan “No SID”. It will usually not do you any good however, because, your clearance will end up being the full details of the SID instead of the short hand version of the SID. In the old days, the SID’s were in a separate document and pilots did not always have them available. Now they are included in the Terminal Procedures publication and there is no excuse for not having them available.

   If you are simply cleared as filed, you are expected to follow an ODP or if none is available, to climb to 400 feet AGL then turn on course to your first fix. In some cases a ceiling is specified in addition to a visibility as required for departure. This is to allow the pilot to see and avoid obstacles and should be followed all though it is not mandatory for part 91 operations, it would be less than smart to ignore the minimum requirements. Some airports that are located in challenging obstacle and terrain environments will specify a DP that is called Visual Climb Over Airport (VCOA) and has a high ceiling and visibility requirement. Here you are expected to climb within sight of the airport to the specified altitude before proceeding on course.

   +13 Votes 14 Votes  1 Votes

3. 
   

   
   

   Mark Kolber on Jan 19, 2014

   1. Departing from controlled airspace, is there a way to make an IFR departure without SID or ODP? (weather is IFR)
   Definitely. But there’s a catch. Some might say a big one.

   Catch to not using a SID: Recall what a SID is – a Standard Instrument Departure procedure. IOW, assuming you wre going to be assigned a SID to begin with, it is the route ATC wants you to use. The FAA was nice enough to take it and put in on a chart with words and pictures. You say.
   “No DP” and you are likely to get the exact same routing, but this time, you’ve forced ATC to give it to you word by word over the radio, you have to write it yourself, read it back correctly and fly it with the additional risk that you spelled some fix incorrectly and head the wrong way. Which would you rather do?

   Catch to not using a DP: Hitting a mountain. Again, your choice, your responsibility

   0 Votes 1 Votes  1 Votes

4. 
   

   
   

   Mark Kolber on Jan 19, 2014

   =IF(ISBLANK(D14),””,mround(D14+E14,1/240))

   =IF(D14>0),mround(D14+E14,1/240). “”)

   I wanted to discuss this one separately from the other one (in addition to Johns observation that, ultimately, obstacle celarance is always up to you:

   Departure with no clearance. Obstacle clearance is up to me (legal to operate under IFR weather). Eventually clearance is required before entering controlled airspace.

   The problem with this one is that it’s unrealistic in most cases, so I want to make sure you understand your own question. It almost sounds like you are picturing the situation and taking off without having already received your clearance and figure you’ll obtain it in the air. While that works very well when the wether is VMC, it’s not really viable with the weather is IMC.

   In the standard IFR flight from uncontrolled surface areas in IMC, one gets the clearance in advance of departure. Due to the difference in IFR rules for controlled and uncontrolled airspace, your IFR clearance does not become effective until you enter controlled airspace. Your clearance from the ground will include something like, “Upon reaching controlled airspace…” So, if you depart IFR without your clearance already in hand, there you are mucking around among the hills and towers, seeing nothing, being below 700 or 1200 AGL as applicable (the few areas in the US with higher controlled airspace floors excepted) trying to reach ATC to get your clearance.

   Which leads to a related second problem. While IFR flight in uncontrolled airspace is technically legal, the FAA has already brought at least one successful certificate action against a pilot who departed IFR from an airport with no clearance, expecting to reach VMC before reaching controlled airspace. The theory was simple – you are not the only one there. To the extent there are likely to be other IFR aircraft in the vicinity, the your unrecorded, uncleared, unannounced flight [presents a risk to them, making your actions careless and reckless under 91.13. read http://www.ntsb.gov/alj/o_n_o/docs/AVIATION/3935.PDF for details; people still argue about how far that decision goes in prohibiting uncontrolled IFR flight; my shorthand interpretation is on the conservative side.

   Is that what your question was contemplating?

   +3 Votes 3 Votes  0 Votes

5. 
   

   
   

   Mark Kolber on Jan 19, 2014

   Don’t ask how an Excel formula got into my post.

   +5 Votes 5 Votes  0 Votes

6. 
   

   
   

   Kyle on Jul 28, 2015

   Along the same lines I would like to ask a question. During a diverse departure what is the correct way to enter the en route structure (e.g. Victor Airway) in an aircraft that is only equipped with dual VOR and no RNAV capabilities. Must the pilot depart direct to a NAVAID (VOR) or can you fly a heading that will intercept the Airway and establish you on course?

   0 Votes 0 Votes  0 Votes

7. 
   

   
   

   Matt C on Mar 24, 2018

   Regarding this previous answer:

   If an airport does not have a specific DP for a runway, then the departure is considered a diverse departure and if you climb to 400 AGL before your first turn and use a climb rate that provides at least 200 feet per NM, you are assured of obstacle and terrain clearance.

   Note that this is only true if the airport has been surveyed, meaning that it has at least one instrument approach. Otherwise, no clearance of any kind is guaranteed.

   +2 Votes 2 Votes  0 Votes