Page 27 - April 2016

RNAV Arrival into the Billings Logan International Airport.So what is a descend via clearance? The Pilot/Controller glossary in the back of the AIM offers the following definition:An abbreviated ATC clearance that requires compliance with a published procedure lateral path and associated speed restrictions and provides a pilot-discretion descent to comply with published altitude restrictions.The typical descend via clearance will sound something like this:Delta 1428, expect to land runway 28R, cross BYRCH at or above FL200, then descend via the CRAZI ONE Arrival, maintain 5,000, Billings altimeter 30.12.That’s it; really not a very complicated clearance. But what does it mean?That’s a little more complicated. Essentially, ATC wants you to followthe lateral and vertical depiction indicated in the STAR. It’s a little like flying a non- precision approach that begins 100 NM from the airport. You will note that the STAR has numerous altitude “tags” that depict a minimum altitude (at or above 17,000), a maximum altitude (below 10,000), a hard altitude (at 7,000) or a range of altitudes (below 7,000 and at or above 4,000). When given a descend via clearance, the pilot must plan his descent to meet every one of these altitude restrictions without interaction from ATC; they will expect you to meet these crossing restrictions on yourNW-1, 04 FEB 2016 to 03 MAR 2016SW-1, 04 FEB 2016 to 03 MAR 2016NW-1, 04 FEB 2016 to 03 MAR 2016APRIL 2016TWIN & TURBINE • 25Turbines, Inc. Third Page 4/C Ad