Clearance Delivery at Class C Airports
 

Quick question.

Every book I have read states that "Clearance Delivery is established at busier airports to communicate IFR clearances to departing IFR Traffic"... and that VFR pilots should contact clearance delivery when the ATIS says to do so.

That to me indicates that there are Class C airports out there that do not require VFR pilots to contact Clearance Delivery.

Note: I am NOT Saying you don't need a clearance, but it is not needed from Clearance Delivery


Can anyone confirm or deny this? Do you have an example of a Class C airport that does not require VFR pilots to contact Clearance Delivery?

Noting that you are in the USA, you may be better advised to post this specific question in an American pilot forum e.g. here

Here in Europe, clearance delivery is very ad-hoc as to whether a VFR departure needs it, which frequency it is collected from, etc. At a big airport, I would ask for a departure clearance even if leaving VFR, however, only to remove ambiguity re ATC expectations.

ATIS, Clearance delivery, Startup, Ground, Tower. It's that order I start with to obtain my startup clearance on a controlled field, even if departing VFR. And they will tell you what frequency to contact next.

From a pilots perspective, Clearance Delivery is typically a rather quiet and sedate frequency, meaning if you want a radio check, have any questions, there's something wrong with the flight plan, or you want a non-standard route, you can discuss it at length without impacting operations.

Not ATIS, surely?

If the ATIS tells me that I can startup without permission, yes.

But yeah, it doesn't make sense to transmit on the ATIS frequency. In fact, with the ATIS on a VOR frequency, like on my home base, that's not even possible.

(Made a bet with myself how long it would take for someone to jump on this. Two hours nine minutes was less than what I expected...)

Only because I am stuck in a hotel in Amman, trying to kill 2 more days while my girlfriend is at a conference :) Off to check out yet another shopping mall shortly...

Why wouldn't you listen to ATIS before calling clearance delivery? :confused:

You can listen to ATIS but can't transmit on it, so it isn't useful for collecting a clearance.

Sorry if I have missed something.

Yep - at many airports the ATIS tells you WHICH frequency will give you the clearance. This is usually a function of the traffic volume.

Example LEMG (Malaga). During the quieter months of the year, you get your clearance on the ground frequency. During the summer months and at other peak times (Easter, Xmas), the ATIS will tell you 'clearance delivery on XXX.XX'. This, btw, has nothing to do with VFR or IFR. You call up clearance in both cases.