Clearance under VFR departing

[Slamovits]

Hi! I'm planning to depart from Tehachapi municipal airport for an IFR flight. Who do I need to talk before the fight to obtain the clearance? Where Can I find that info? Thanks!

[scottcame]

I usually check the AFD first...if the airport has instrument procedures, there will usually be a radar facility (TRACON or ARTCC) listed in the Communications section.

Since KTSP doesn't have instrument procedures (or for some other reason) there is no radar facility listed in the AFD. So the alternative is to look on the IFR low enroute chart for the nearest ARTCC frequency:

http://skyvector.com/?ll=35.30974699775 ... 407&zoom=3

In this case, it would be the Bakersfield sector on 127.1, or maybe Palmdale on 121.5...TSP is right in the middle. In PE, I would expect to get a response on either one...and if you're on the wrong one, the controller can tell you the right one.

In the real world, if I was unfamiliar with the airport, I'd probably ask the Flight Service briefer for the procedure when I called to file. Sometimes they may have you call the radar facility on the phone, especially if the airport is in an area of poor radio reception (like KTSP might be, given the terrain).

[Alex Stjepanovic]

In reality it's High Desert TRACON. The funky thing is, that it's a bit tricky as it behaves like center. In reality, if you look at the confines of R-2508(More or less), you'll see a chunk of it, that goes SFC-600. As they usually only list center frequencies, this fact therefore gets somewhat emitted, even though it should really be in there.

There are a number of frequencies in use there, but the one we primarily use is 124.55.


One thing that you can do in a case like this, where you know that there should be a facility there, but isn't listed, is look at a nearby airport that you are sure would be served by the same facility. In this case, MHV. Looking at one of the charts or A/FD, gives "JOSHUA APP CON 133.65" - Good enough! Of course it assumes you'd know a facility was there.

[Slamovits]

Thanks a lot! :=)

[Keith Smith]

Another option is to depart under VFR and pick up the clearance in the air, too. This is a very common technique in areas where it is difficult to reach the center frequency from the ground level.