Cleared to Land Question
Posted by dampTendeez@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 20 comments
Dumb question related to being cleared to land and entering a traffic pattern. Recently I was cleared to land 12 miles out. I was given no other instruction other than something similar to "winds XXX @ X cleared to land runway XX". I did not talk much to tower after that besides some communication about other traffic. I was roughly 30 degrees within runway heading and decided to execute a straight in.
I did not receive the instruction "cleared to land straight in runway XX". Should I have entered a left downwind for the runway?
Honestly, a straight in ended up being the right call anyways because some other traffic ended up being east of the airfield. Additionally, tower did not appear to have any issue as I slowly bee bopped for 12 miles for a straight in.
saml01@reddit
Means so whatever you want. Do an overhead break if you want.
BigJellyfish1906@reddit
When they clear you to land, they want you to be heading directly for the runway. There is no reason to elongate your flight path by arbitrarily making it look like a training pattern.
Jwylde2@reddit
They know where you are. If they say “Runway xx cleared to land”, unless they cancel your clearance and/or give you further instructions like “enter midfield downwind”, the runway is yours. You don’t have to talk to them until you’re on the ground.
JT-Av8or@reddit
It just meant there was no traffic and the controller didn’t care. Now there’s likely a caveat (I used to be a controller now a pilot) don’t do anything weird. If you’re lined up for a straight in more or less, do that. Perpendicular to the runway? Base. Otherwise downwind on whatever side of the runway you currently are. Predictable. Yeah he didn’t say you couldn’t cross over the field, do a 270 come up initial and do an overhead break over the numbers BUT that would be weird and confusing.
coma24@reddit
within 30 degs of the landing runway....why would you even consider the downwind? You're being cleared to land based on known traffic....tower is absolutely not expecting you to make a downwind entry from there. Base or straight in. As others have said, if you're not sure, ask.
HV_Conditions@reddit
You know the worse thing about ATC is the tower is filled with robots and not people
When in doubt ask for clarification
dampTendeez@reddit (OP)
Diddnt think about it until a day after the fact.
Good advice though.
Mispelled-This@reddit
If they cared what you were going to do, then they should have given specific instructions. Absent that, you can do whatever makes the most sense given where you are.
No-Duck4828@reddit
Clearing you to land from a ways out simply means that they aren't worried about you conflicting with anyone else. Once they clear you to land, maneuver as appropriate to put yourself in a safe position for landing, then land. That's it. If they don't want you to fly an overhead/straight in/traffic patter/whatever, they'll let you know. It is why they have the microphone and transmitter.
theEdge229@reddit
Per 7110.65 3-10-1 Landing Information, the tower should have given you a pattern entry with your landing clearance. That being said, we’re all human. They might have just forgot, or they were training someone new, who knows? It certainly sounds like you did what they wanted/expected. I will die on the hill that there’s nothing wrong with asking one of us to clarify our instructions. Ambiguity kills, that’s why we have a giant manual full of phraseology.
dynamic_fluid@reddit
Regardless of the fact that they technically should’ve given a patten entry instruction, in my experience, most of the time ATCTs don’t do this unless they need something that you otherwise wouldn’t’ve done (like joining a downwind when you’re set up for a base).
I agree with you but also add that it’s good to not expect tower controllers to give a pattern entry instruction and just plan on entering in the way you’re most set up for unless given other instructions.
Oregon-Pilot@reddit
I bee bop a 757 on a 12 mile straight in alla time, you did it right!
Accomplished-Ear-681@reddit
I’m a tower controller and have been for a long time. There SHOULD have been a pattern entry instruction. Now that we’ve got that out of the way if you check in 12 miles out and all I say is “….Runway Whatever, Cleared to Land” you’re the only traffic I have. In this case I’m anticipating a straight in but really don’t care that much. If you want to tell me something like “Straight in, RWY XX, Cleared to land” or “Left/Right downwind, RWY XX, Cleared to Land” then go for it. Sort of like after roll out and there’s not a runway to cross on your way to parking and I say “Taxi to parking, monitor ground” taxi to parking, I don’t care which taxiways you use when there’s nothing to hit.
AdditionalWx314@reddit
At degrees from runway heading you were expected to do a straight in approach, in fact anything short of a 45 would have assumed that. If it was me and I got that clearance but wanted to do more of the pattern I would have advised them of that because they expected straight in.
benbalooky@reddit
They were expecting a straight in, and you did all the right things. But remember! They want you to ask if you're not sure.
Antique-Kitchen-1896@reddit
Cleared and number one. They can always cancel if situation changes.
WhiteoutDota@reddit
If you are cleared to land with no other instruction, yea it means do whatever. A 30 degree offset from centerline would be considered a straight in anyways.
Imaginary_Amoeba3461@reddit
At a towered airport in that position, they are expecting a straight in. If they want something else they’ll say so.
FL060@reddit
You did what you were supposed to, no worries there.
There is zero requirement to enter a downwind for any runway. It's very helpful if there's no tower and lots of traffic, but that's not what you encountered.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Dumb question related to being cleared to land and entering a traffic pattern. Recently I was cleared to land 12 miles out. I was given no other instruction other than something similar to "winds XXX @ X cleared to land runway XX". I did not talk much to tower after that besides some communication about other traffic. I was roughly 30 degrees within runway heading and decided to execute a straight in.
I did not receive the instruction "cleared to land straight in runway XX". Should I have entered a left downwind for the runway?
Honestly, a straight in ended up being the right call anyways because some other traffic ended up being east of the airfield. Additionally, tower did not appear to have any issue as I slowly bee bopped for 12 miles for a straight in.
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