Required Reports

For this look, well cover about half of the reports other than position reports per 14 CFR 91.183(a) that Fred Simonds briefly mentions in his Radar Service Gotchas on page 14. Well thoroughly cover those later.

Editorial Staff

Wednesday, November 05, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The article details essential IFR pilot reports, criticizing the common "MARVELOUS VFR 500" mnemonic for its complexity and failure to differentiate between reports required in and out of radar contact.
It clarifies that reports should primarily be made to ATC or FSS, emphasizing that reporting the final approach fix inbound on CTAF during an instrument approach is generally not mandatory unless specifically requested.
The first six reports from the mnemonic ("MARVEL") are broken down: Missed Approach, Airspeed Changes, Reaching a Holding Fix, Vacating an Assigned Altitude, ETA Change (only when not in radar contact), and Leaving a Holding Fix, with specific guidance on their applicability regardless of radar contact status.

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For this look, we’ll cover about half of the reports other than position reports per 14 CFR 91.183(a) that Fred Simonds briefly mentions in his “Radar Service Gotchas” on page 14. We’ll thoroughly cover those later.

The other reports generally come from three sources: 14 CFR 91.183 (specifically paragraphs b and c), 91.187 and AIM 5-3-3. Section i5-3-1 n the AIM is largely about technique in communicating with ATC, while 5-3-2 goes into detail regarding the position reports required by 91.183(a). AIM 5-3-3 is titled “Additional Reports” and I’ve found it to be badly overlooked by many pilots.