Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

When on an IFR flight plan, do you have to request the higher altitude when there is a change in MEA, MOCA, OROCA?

Asked by: 8757 views , , , ,
Instrument Rating

When heading east on a heading of 090 and the MEA / OROCA for the airway/sector  is 5000ft. Your next leg will be a heading of 350, and the MEA / OROCA / MCA is 8000 ft. As the FAR's state, after you cross the intersection / fix, you should then begin your climb to the next MEA / OROCA. The question is do you just climb to the next Altitude  without calling ATC or do you have to "request" that altitude from ATC. 

Another quick question. If you were on an easterly heading for your initial departure leg, and your next leg will be on a northwestern heading, would you file an altitude appropriate for 0-179 or 180-359? I have always just filed the initial legs appropriate altitude for the track. Also, similar to the first question, would you call ATC when you need to change your altitude due to your heading or do you just do it?

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. John D Collins on Apr 13, 2014

    ATC will be way ahead of you and assign the appropriate higher altitude in the clearance. If for some reason they don’t, call them and ask for the higher altitude. In my 40+ years of flying I don’t recall ever needing to do this, but in case it does, ask.

    You fly your last assigned altitude. With IFR altitudes, the regulations don’t specify a hemispherical rule in controlled airspace like VFR. ATC will typically assign a direction of flight altitude, but it is not in the regulations to do so and they can assign a so called “wrong direction” altitude and do it all the time when it suits their purposes. You can request either even or odd altitudes based on your desires or needs. You won’t always get it, but often you will. I do this when the correct direction altitude will do things like: give me a rough ride, prevent me from remaining on top, put me into a strong head wind, put me into icing conditions, and so on. In many cases, the controller will come on and say that I need you at an odd or even altitude for direction of flight and I have requested remaining at my existing altitude, traffic permitting. I frequently am permitted to remain at my altitude, but it is common that when you get a hand off that the request has to be passed on to the next controller.

    +3 Votes Thumb up 3 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. tommytom on Apr 13, 2014

    Thank you John for your help.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.