quinny89

i had another flight instructor call me today with a question. A student was telling him that he was taught from the military that on the 'route' portion of the ifr flight plan, the final fix MUST be the FAF of the instrument approach he was going to use at his destination. Now I know that is incorrect, but what the flight instructor wanted from me was "where would i find that in writing?". I've wore my eyes out scouring the FAR's and AIM, and cannot find in writing anything that says what the final fix on the route section should be. Does anyone have any clues??

joepilot

You can file an IFR flight plan to an airport that does not have an instrument approach, therefore it must not be a requirement.

I think it is a good practice so that ATC will know your what you plan to do in the case of radio failure, but not a requirement.

Joe

Laxrox43

I used to look at the weather, and determine the possible runway in use. Then dusted off my L-chart and approach plate to determine if there were any "feeder routes" to a particular approach, and that's how I used to determine my last fix that I filed in the route section.

__________________
Surfs up, suns down, Life in a beach town

Tweetdrvr

Filing to an IAF used to be a requirement, but went away 8-10 years ago. It was in FLIP GP ch4 (Military Flight Info Publication General Planning)

I still do it as heads up to the controller to let them know what I will probably do if NORDO. I also look at the weather to determine the most likely runway in use. When I teach students, I emphasize this is technique only.

the King

If you look at the lost comms procedure in the AIM it does not say where you have to file to. It does say that you must go to the clearance limit and hold until the EFC and then LEAVE for the IAP and arrive there at ETA. Therefore, the two are not mutually inclusive. It makes sense to file your IAP if there are a limited number of approaches or you want a specific one, but going into larger airports, situations can change quick enough that it makes little sense given the number of approaches and directions for landing involved.

__________________
More people are killed by donkeys than in airplane crashes each year....

quinny89

Thanks for the help guys. I was pretty sure that was the answer, but wanted to double check.