LOAs: Tribal Knowledge

lbencini-tibo

Friday, March 27, 2020 at 08:29 AM ET

Verified

In what airspace is Fort Lauderdal Executive Airport (KFXE)? Is it Class D, or perhaps KFLL’s Class C?

Key Takeaways:

The FAA utilizes Letters of Agreement (LOAs) to clarify air traffic control responsibilities and procedures, but many of these agreements are not readily available to pilots.
Some LOAs contain "nearly unpublished procedures" that can significantly impact pilots, such as specific departure routes or airspace control delineations, leading to ambiguity.
Pilots often rely on "tribal knowledge" or unusual instructions (like being told to "Google" a procedure by ATC) to discover these critical, yet obscure, operational details.
The article advocates for greater accessibility and official publication of LOAs that affect pilot operations, rather than relying on informal dissemination.

See a mistake? Contact us.

One of the ways the FAA manages many things without creating new regulations is through Letters of Agreement (LOAs). There are many types of LOAs but one creates clarity among Air Traffic Control facilities regarding who controls what. In theory, they eliminate ambiguity amongst the parties involved. Sometimes LOAs also affect pilots and the issue is that few LOAs are readily available, making it rather difficult for pilots to find out.

Now, we’ve been referencing LOAs on these pages for years. Most of the time they’re innocuous and we pilots might have little need or interest in knowing them. This includes perhaps the most common LOA, that between a Center and a TRACON that specifies how each is to route traffic to the other. Typically, this involves gates, altitudes, speeds, and in-trail spacing.