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3 Answers

Purpose of Cruise Clearance

Asked by: 7928 views FAA Regulations, Instrument Rating

When exactly is a cruise clearance used and for what purpose? I understand that having a block altitude to fly in would be useful, but approving the pilot to make any approach into the destination airport confuses me. Is the approval considered an IAP clearance?

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3 Answers



  1. Matthew Waugh on Jun 09, 2016

    Why does approving the pilot to make any approach into the airport confuse you? Yes it does allow an IAP.
    You’re not going to get a cruise clearance into ORD at 1:00PM (in fact you’re probably never going to get a cruise clearance into ORD) but some Podunk little airport at 3:00AM in the morning while you have a load of checks in the back anxious to be on the ground (well I guess we don’t fly small oblong pieces of paper around anymore, but when we did) – works great.
    It’s no worse than the clearance I used to get from 20 miles out into a Class C airport at midnight. “Radar contact, cleared for the visual approach any runway, cleared to land, taxi to the ramp, good night”.

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  2. Drew on Jun 09, 2016

    It confuses me because I thought you would get a cruise clearance early on in the flight. The approach/center controller that you’re with at the time of getting the clearance may not have jurisdiction or know of the situation at your destination airport. Maybe the approach that you want will be unavailable to you at the time of your arrival for whatever reason. I’ve never seen a cruise clearance before, so I’m trying to picture when and how a pilot would use it.

    Thanks.

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  3. Skyfox on Jun 15, 2016

    A cruise clearance clears the pilot to fly the course on the flight plan at any altitude between the cruise altitude and the MEA (without having to notify ATC of the altitude change), make the descent when nearing the destination, and shoot any approach at the destination. Basically it clears you from where you are all the way to the ground, so yes, it is an IAP clearance without having to specify which one you shoot.

    I think the purpose of it is to reduce radio congestion and ATC workload since a cruise clearance dedicates that airspace to your flight all the way to the destination, and ATC would really only have to call you if there’s a traffic alert or something big on the weather radar.

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