One In or One Out

Before I can clear an airplane for a visual approach, I have to ensure the pilot has either the landing runway, the airport, or preceding aircraft in sight. Obvious, right? If youre landing on it or following it, ATC must ensure you can see it. For instance, if there are clouds in the way or the preceding aircraft gets lost in ground clutter or weather, theres no guarantee youll be able to safely navigate visually to the runway.

tkarmer

Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

IFR visual approaches to non-towered airports are cleared to the *airport only* (pilot chooses the runway), fundamentally differing from towered airports where ATC clears to a *specific runway*.
At non-towered fields, ATC terminates radar service and direct communication upon advising pilots to switch to advisory frequency, thus prohibiting pilot-applied visual separation for IFR aircraft.
Consequently, ATC must maintain strict "one in, one out" IFR separation at non-towered airports, often leading to delays for subsequent IFR traffic.
Pilots are encouraged to cancel IFR as soon as safely possible to minimize delays, and in case of a go-around from a visual approach, they must remain clear of clouds and contact ATC for further clearance as there's no defined missed approach.

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The Beechcraft Baron was descending out of 4000 for 3000. “I’ve got the airport in sight.” All the weather displays in my approach control radar room showed beautiful VMC everywhere. The Baron was on a vector for a visual approach to one of our local airports.

“Roger,” I said. “Fly heading 270 for sequence. Expect about a five-minute delay. I’m awaiting IFR cancellation from a King Air who appears to be on a four-mile final for Runway Niner, descending out of 2000.”