Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

4 Answers

Departure Procedure: Radial Inbound or Outbound if not specified?

Asked by: 3309 views , , , ,
Instrument Rating

Reference KELP (El Paso, Texas) obstacle departure procedure.  It reads, "climbing left turn heading 120 and ELP R-150 to 9000, then proceed on course".  Is it common to assume it is outbound, if inbound is not specified, or how do you decide between the two?  Any reference would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

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.

4 Answers



  1. R. Anderson on Jul 24, 2017

    Take a look at the ODP for KLAS departing RWYs 19 L/R. It states:

    “Rwys 19 L/R,
    climbing left turn via heading 120° and BLD R-257 direct BLD
    VORTAC before proceeding on course.”

    You can see then that on the when the procedure calls for going inbound on the radial it will say so. Conversely, when joining a radial and flying outbound the wording is how it’s shown for ELP in your question.

    It is a good question, and there are certainly times where verbiage in instrument procedures can be tricky.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. R. Anderson on Jul 24, 2017

    I apologize for the slight grammar error in my answer above.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. John D Collins on Jul 25, 2017

    Also the intercept heading will not be obtuse. A 120 degree heading to intercept a 150 radial is going to be a 30 degree intercept to the 150 radial outbound and 150 degrees to intercept the same radial inbound. The choice should be obvious.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  4. Mark Kolber on Jul 29, 2017

    John is absolutely correct. Even without running the numbers, you decide based on looking at the procedure in the context of the chart. In the one you point to, pretty obvious it is outbound on the radial.

    We, meaning both pilots and CFIs, have an unfortunate tendency to make instrument procedures much more complicated than they are.

    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.