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5 Answers

IFR flight plan

Asked by: 1920 views Instrument Rating

Hello.. alot of people on you tube say dont file "Direct"  If you lose comms you dont want to fly to the airport but to a IAF... Even in the flight plan it says "leave blank if direct"   on foreflight if you check the past routes on a given flight "Direct" is always on top.

Just a thought, If i program a IAF in my garmin 650 its going to take me 10 miles or so away from the airport when i know I'll get vectors?  So Direct or IAF?   thanks

5 Answers



  1. John D Collins on Nov 07, 2021

    It does not matter what you file as the only difference between direct to an IAF or direct to the airport is how you get to an IAF in the event of lost communications. Some places you will be able to file direct and actually get cleared that way, but in other parts of the country, you are going to get a clearance with a route quite different than what you filed. IMHO, it is best if you file a route so that you end up getting cleared as filed, At my airport, I can file direct to many destinations, but not all, so I file accordingly. When I have filed direct to an IAF, I often have to request it when I get close, rather than vectors to the airport.

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  2. Mark Kolber on Nov 08, 2021

    I think there are two reasons for filing to an IAF.

    One is lost com. I don’t get too excited about that one. In order for it to take effect, you would need to be in solid actual conditions, never encountering visual conditions along the way, and with a failure which *only* affected your coms (navs still work), and was not part of a pending electrical failure or other emergency. That’s going to be exceedingly rare. Besides, once ATC knows you are lost com, they are going to keep everyone else far away from you, hoping you get in the ground somewhere – anywhere – safely.

    The other is that, in theory, it lessens workload. Since, if “as filed,” the IAF for the approach is already in the flight plan, it doesn’t require selection and additional vectors/modifications/maneuvering as you reach your destination. I’ve also heard from some it might also shorten the conversation when asking for a shortcut. I have my doubts about that too. I like getting cleared “direct destination” as a shortcut. OTOH, I’ve gotten “where is that?” when asking for direct to an IAF from a remote facility (don’t expect a controller from a facility which does not handle approaches at your destination to know the IAFs there).

    I agree with John. File what you are likely to be cleared for. Keep it simple. And even if you file to an IAF, “which approach” is still going to be a conversation between pilot and ATC when reaching the approach environment.

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  3. bobsmith on Nov 09, 2021

    Ok thanks… If ATC ask me to to fly direct to a fix, how do i know if its on the approach plate or the low ifr charts? the other day i was getting ready for an approach and he said fly direct “sinni” .. it happened to be an IAF but i didnt know… i have a garmin 650 so i quess all i have to do is ask for the spelling… hit the big “D” and put it in. thanks everone

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  4. Russ Roslewski on Nov 10, 2021

    If it’s an approach you’re expecting (meaning on the ATIS they say “expect the ILS RWY 24”), then you should already have that chart up and be able to easily tell if the fix is on there. If it’s not, then it’s probably an enroute fix – but you’d definitely want to ask ATC for the spelling first. There are only so many possible fix names, and some areas have several which could be pronounced the same. So always ask if there’s any possibility of doubt.

    And this isn’t unusual, it happens all the time – spend some time listening to liveatc.net, especially Center frequencies, and you’ll hear Center spelling fix names for airline pilots all day long.

    Also, I don’t recommend you enter the fix into your GPS, and therefore have the autopilot start flying to it, without at least checking to see if it’s a reasonable fix for your flight. Example – this past Saturday, I received an amended route. I heard, and read back, VUK as one of the fixes. Turns out VUK isn’t a fix, so I clarified with ATC and he admitted he spelled it wrong, it was VUZ, which was reasonable for our route.

    But it could also easily have been a misspelling that did exist somewhere, and could cause all sorts of problems if I just typed it in blindly and went direct.

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  5. bobsmith on Nov 10, 2021

    never thought about a miss spelling … that could be a huge proplem,, thanks

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