PilotEdge Forums

Hi,

yesterday Keith streamed 3 hours of him working the scope and I was fortunate enough to be online at that time. One thing that startled me a bit was that I (falsely) assumed that you have to stay on course when flying the coastal route southbound till ATC tells you to resume own nav. Apparently that is wrong, though. I had previously read through some CAT-10 related posts on the forum since I am currently practicing for it and this came up:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7366

I read that and was thinking you have to be both clear of the bravo AND be told to resume own nav. Apparently either one is fine - is that correct then?

Also Keith, you said on your stream, which I watched a recording of afterwards, that I was doing it the hard way. From KBUR to KSNA I could just have gone under the bravo. True, but would not have been good practice for my CAT-10...

Again, this was extremely educational and just plain fun - especially since I found out about the stream AFTER I was done with my flight.

Thanks,
Henrik (thingsis - Cherokee 679HB)

it all depends on your ATC clearance. If ATC says "Cleared through Bravo airspace via Coastal Route Southbound, maintain VFR at 5500 while in bravo airspace" then both altitude and route only apply in the bravo. If ATC had said "Cleared through bravo airspace, join the coastal route southbound, maintain VFR 5500" you would be technically obligated to remain on the route to the end and at the altitude until cut loose. He didn't clear you to use anything within the published text, just to use the same routing...

There is specific ATC phraseology to cancel an altitude restriction at the bravo boundary: "while in Bravo airspace", however the coastal route text say maintain altitude assigned by ATC until advised. For the routing portion it says remain on the route "until exiting bravo airspace". That's WHY you can leave the route, the controller cleared you to use the published procedure. You cannot however leave your altitude unless the controller specifically cancels the text by using "while in bravo airspace" phraseology.

The same applies to a heading, but is much easier to deal with since there is no chart to confuse you. When the controller says "fly heading XXX" if he doesn't also say "until exiting bravo airspace" then you are stuck on that heading until you terminate with him.

...and don't forget, you can break any ATC clearance to comply with FAR.

- maintain VFR
- see and avoid
- maintain obstruction clearances and minimum altitudes