Airspace Review (Optional)
Class B, the busy stuff To make sense of this complicated cake, let’s build it from the ground up! At a Class B airport, you…
DVA
Diverse Vector Area (DVA) What in the heck is that!? Well let’s translate from FAA to English: It’s an area that’s been pre-cleared by a…
ODP
Obstacle Departure Procedures (ODPs) ODPs come in two forms, textual and graphic. When the textual ODP is considered to be “complex” (lots of turns or…
VCOA
Visual Climb Over Airport (VCOA) A Visual Climb Over Airport (VCOA) procedure is a departure option for an IFR aircraft, operating in visual meteorological conditions…
SIDs
Standard Instrument Departure Procedure (SID) SIDs can help condense your flight plan in a nice neat package, reduce ATC workload, and make receiving your clearance…
Descent Planning
The Perfect Descent So before we jump into approach plates, I think it’s important to take a pause for the cause for 2 minutes and…
Approach Plate Extra Credit!
Want to Know MORE! Check out some extra credit information here to learn a little bit more about instrument approach plates and how to put…
Center (ARTCC)
Air Route Traffic Control Center, or better known as “CENTER” ARTCCs are what make up the vast majority of our NAS. They cover all the…
Tower and Approach / Departure
Tower You of course are probably familiar with what a tower controller does. Keep in mind though, that besides just controlling the airspace within about…
From the Ground Up
ATIS So let’s take a look at this as if we are departing a Class C or D airport. The first thing we’ll do is…