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2 Answers

Radar departure on SID to VOR further than service volume allows.

Asked by: 2893 views Instrument Rating

Lets start out with telling you that my aircraft is a /A for radio nav (no gps). My local departure procedure is called Burlington Seven Departure (BTV7.BTV). It is a radar required departure procedure. My question is, can I file the BTV7 direct to Albany (ALB) knowing that it doesn't meet the service volume reception criteria (40NM for filed altitude)? Total straight distance between the two is roughly 110NM. I ask because I have been given this clearance multiple times but end up telling them that I cant receive ALB from Burlington. Can I file to a published VOR on the SID even if it exceeds NAVAID reception when the departure procedure is RADAR Required? thanks!

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2 Answers



  1. John D Collins on Nov 25, 2015

    There are two separate issues, first the SID is a vector SID, meaning there is no route that ATC can adapt their computer to, so it won’t accept this SID in a flightplan. If you file it, it will get rejected. That does not mean that ATC can’t assign it to you or that you are restricted from requesting it. it just means you can’t file it with the SID in the flightplan. What you file instead is your intended route.

    Second, the route direct to Albany is outside of the standard service volume, so you can’t accept the direct clearance with your equipment. You could accept a route using BTV V91 ALB or BTV GFL ALB as both routes remain either on an airway or within the service volumes of the respective VORs. You could accept radar vectors to ALB, but not on your own navigation.

    It is ultimately not ATC’s responsibility to provide you a legal route that matches your equipment capabilities, the pilot is responsible for complying with the regulations.

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  2. Mark Kolber on Nov 26, 2015

    Great answer from John. I’m just going to mention a part of it since it might be slightly confusing to some

    the route direct to Albany is outside of the standard service volume, so you can’t accept the direct clearance with your equipment. You could accept a route using BTV V91 ALB or BTV GFL ALB as both routes remain either on an airway or within the service volumes of the respective VORs. You could accept radar vectors to ALB, but not on your own navigation.

    It’s absolutely correct but, just in case someone is confused on this point, while you can’t file a pure vector SID (because there is no “route” for the computer to take) and you should file a route you can self-navigate with your equipment, you are likely to get “Cleared to the ____ airport. Burlington Seven Departure, Albany transition,” as part your clearance. You =can= accept it when /A, because it involves radar vectors, which your equipment is (hopefully since all it requires is comm and a transponder) able to handle.

    Your filed route becomes your ultimate backup in case of lost comm.

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