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:

At non-towered airports, ATC clears IFR visual approaches only to the *airport*, not a specific runway, and loses communication/radar separation when pilots switch to advisory frequency.
This lack of control over runway selection and pilot-applied visual separation forces ATC to maintain strict "one in, one out" IFR separation, often causing delays for subsequent IFR traffic.
Pilots can mitigate these delays by safely and legally canceling their IFR clearance as soon as practical, allowing them to proceed VFR without stringent IFR separation requirements.
If an IFR aircraft executing a visual approach at a non-towered airport must go around, it remains IFR, must stay clear of clouds, and immediately contacts ATC for further clearance, as there is no defined missed approach procedure.

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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.”