Reporting clear of the Delta

Questions and comments about the PE Pilot Training Program
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markcellis
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2019 5:12 am

Reporting clear of the Delta

Post by markcellis »

I'm a new student pilot, I have not soloed yet. I'm using Pilot Edge to practice ATC communications. My training is occurring at KLEB which is a class D municipal airport. My CFI has told me that we report clear of the delta as part of our departure procedures. KLEB does not have radar so he said this helps the controller know where we are. After reporting clear the tower will grant us permission for a frequency change.

While I was doing my CAT-4 I rating I reported clear the KSBP delta space. The controller told me I'm not required to report clear of the delta. I'll ask my CFI this afternoon if this reporting is a requirement or just a courtesy that pilots of KLEB do.

Thoughts?

Mark
Keith Smith
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Location: Pompton Plains, NJ
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Re: Reporting clear of the Delta

Post by Keith Smith »

Normally you would not to report clear unless the tower asks you to do so. This is because most towers have a radar feed of some sort, so they have a fairly good idea of when a VFR target is exiting the airspace. In many cases, even without the radar, they might assume you've left if 3-4 minutes elapse from you passing over the field, or taking off from the field, since most Deltas have a radius of just a few miles.

SBP is a 'limited radar' tower. This would allow them, in real life, to have a fair idea of your position within the Delta, assuming they can distinguish you from other candidate aircraft around the airspace.

There is no specific requirement for pilots to report leaving any type of airspace. However, pilots do need to comply with ATC instructions. Ideally, LEB tower controllers would say, "report exiting the Class Delta." Perhaps they suppress that for tail numbers that fly out of the airspace regularly.
markcellis
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2019 5:12 am

Re: Reporting clear of the Delta

Post by markcellis »

Keith,

I suspect that KLEB suppresses the request. I'm with a club and our two aircraft are very well known. They must just assume we will report exiting the delta. Thanks for the information.

Mark
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