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4 Answers

Departure Procedure: Radial Inbound or Outbound if not specified?

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Instrument Rating

Reference KELP (El Paso, Texas) obstacle departure procedure.  It reads, "climbing left turn heading 120 and ELP R-150 to 9000, then proceed on course".  Is it common to assume it is outbound, if inbound is not specified, or how do you decide between the two?  Any reference would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

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4 Answers



  1. R. Anderson on Jul 24, 2017

    Take a look at the ODP for KLAS departing RWYs 19 L/R. It states:

    “Rwys 19 L/R,
    climbing left turn via heading 120° and BLD R-257 direct BLD
    VORTAC before proceeding on course.”

    You can see then that on the when the procedure calls for going inbound on the radial it will say so. Conversely, when joining a radial and flying outbound the wording is how it’s shown for ELP in your question.

    It is a good question, and there are certainly times where verbiage in instrument procedures can be tricky.

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  2. R. Anderson on Jul 24, 2017

    I apologize for the slight grammar error in my answer above.

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  3. John D Collins on Jul 25, 2017

    Also the intercept heading will not be obtuse. A 120 degree heading to intercept a 150 radial is going to be a 30 degree intercept to the 150 radial outbound and 150 degrees to intercept the same radial inbound. The choice should be obvious.

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  4. Mark Kolber on Jul 29, 2017

    John is absolutely correct. Even without running the numbers, you decide based on looking at the procedure in the context of the chart. In the one you point to, pretty obvious it is outbound on the radial.

    We, meaning both pilots and CFIs, have an unfortunate tendency to make instrument procedures much more complicated than they are.

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