Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

IFR Practice Approach CTAF Communications

Asked by: 1637 views
Airspace, General Aviation, Instrument Rating

Hello, please help settle a friendly hangar argument about CTAF location announcement best practices surrounding IFR practice approach communications arriving at an uncontrolled airport?

1st pilot broadcasts on CTAF airplane location referencing distance & direction from IFR navaids (ex: at Arket inbound VOR 12 approach).

Vs.

2nd pilot broadcasts on CTAF airplane locations referencing distance & direction from airport (ex: 5 mi west inbound Rwy12 low approach).

Airport & plate referenced is KLVN VOR 12.

I looked in the AIM for IFR vs. VFR CTAF lingo but was unable to locate best practice guidance.  Thank you for your help.

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. John D Collins on May 09, 2021

    VFR pilots can’t be assumed to have an understanding of local IFR procedures, and any call referencing procedure waypoints is not helpful. I recommend that when switched to CTAF, you state your location in terms of distance from the runway. Rock Hill traffic, Bonanza 1234 7 mile final straight in runway 2. For the VOR RWY 12 at KLVN, since the final approach course is not aligned with the runway, it would help to specify both the course to FGT and the distance from the runway. I am an instrument rated pilot but if I was on a VFR flight plan, I would have no clue where ARKET would be unless I was familiar with the airport and its approaches. I would suggest something like, “Airlake traffic, Bonanza 1234, 7 miles West of Airlake, tracking the Farmington 085 course inbound, 30 degree angle to the straight in runway 12 Airlake, landing full stop.” or “low approach continuing direct to Farmington” if you are planning to execute the missed approach.

    If you are practicing approaches and not in contact with approach control and there are other aircraft also practicing the same approach, then when communicating on CTAF with the other aircraft that is also doing approaches, it can be helpful to express where you are with respect to fixes on the procedure so you can coordinate with them.

    +4 Votes Thumb up 4 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Ray Svobodny on May 17, 2021

    Thank you. I also located 9.6.1, Non-Towered Airport Flight Operations AC No: 90-66B https://www.faa.gov/documentlibrary/media/advisory_circular/ac_90-66b.pdf

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.