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3 Answers

Class C Clearance Continued after Flight Following Cancelled?

Asked by: 2038 views Airspace

I often fly through the Class C airspace of KCHS to descend into satellite KLRO which is outside the lateral boundaries of Class C. Whether IFR or VFR Flight Following, after hearing "... cancelled, squawk VFR, Frequency change approve", I always confirm I'm clear through Class C whether I'm in it or it's ahead of me and they always tell me I am. Am I wasting time asking since two-way communication has already been established even though it's about to be terminated? And if I am cleared (even though it would probably not be smart) does it mean I am also cleared to go through the inner core if it was  out of my direct to destination line without re-establishing communication?

Another scenario, the other day I was VFR Flight Following at 4500 OVER the outer ring of Class C  and wanting to descend but not getting requested descents from ATC. I canceled flight following and after hearing "squawk VFR", was I clear to descend through Class C since I'd already established communications? (I played it safe and stayed above 4000 until I was out of the lateral boundaries.)

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3 Answers

  1. Best Answer


    Russ Roslewski on May 13, 2020

    A couple things here.

    One, you never need to be cleared into a Class C. You do not need to ask to be “cleared”, you do not need to hear it, and it probably just confuses the controller. All that is required by 91.130 is to establish and maintain 2-way radio communications.

    Inner core/outer area makes no difference.

    If you are already in the Class C and they say “radar service terminated, squawk VFR, frequency change approved”, then there is no real option other than to continue to your destination. I suspect this happens a lot coming from west once you get a few miles east of CHS. They certainly don’t want you turning around or anything, they know you’re going to LRO, they expect you to keep going to LRO, and they know you need to get on CTAF. So I wouldn’t do anything different and wouldn’t worry about it.

    Now, you also posed the scenario where they terminate you and you are NOT in the Class C. In this case, you cannot enter the C, since you are not “maintaining” communications. So this is a case where I would definitely ask what they want you to do. The ironic thing is that once you ask (and they respond), you have now re-established communications and therefore can enter the C anyway (unless they tell you to stay out).

    Remember, once you get (and maintain) radio communications, a Class C for all practical purposes ceases to exist for you. You are approved to enter unless ATC specifically tells you to stay out.

    Class _B_ is where you need the clearance to enter (91.131).

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  2. KDS on May 13, 2020

    You reminded me of one of my favorite student pilot stories.

    As we approached Class D airspace, the student called the tower. The tower responded with our call sign and said stand-by. The student then began doing something like a holding pattern. I thought this would be a great teaching moment, so I started going step-wise through the logic. What kind of airspace is that? Class D. What do we need to enter the airspace? Radio communication. Have we established radio communication? Yes. Well then, why are we still out here circling around? Because he might not know the rules as well as I do and I don’t want to get in an argument with him.

    I thought that was a great set of answers.

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  3. kukuis on May 14, 2020

    Russ, Thanks for clearing up my mistake. Pun intended. I just called the control facility and their response echo’ed yours. Basically, once I state “airport in sight” and cancel they expect me to continue direct whether or not I’m already in C airspace and in the case THEY were keeping me above C and I cancelled, they would have expected me to NOT descend through C.

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