Page 33 - Volume 20 Number 7

Figure 2
I’ve had requests from controller to do lots of things to expedite releases on busy IFR days, including keeping my speed up, slowing down on the approach, and cancelling my clearance as soon as possible. I always try to comply with these requests – as we all should – but I
know I cannot violate the regulations in doing so ... and the controller does not expect us to.
So, the Citation pilot may have been in violation of VFR cloud clearance requirements when he cancelled his clearance (I can’t be sure; remember, this is very speculative). He would
have had to be about 600 feet AGL to be 500 feet below an 1,100-foot overcast. This would have put him about one mile out on the approach glideslope/glidepath in order to cancel IFR, not the four miles out where he cancelled.
Would adhering to the regulations have delayed other operations at the airport? Certainly. But, so what? The Citation would have landed and cancelled on the ground. The Piaggio would have continued to hold for release until the G36 flew its low approach and executed the published missed approach procedure (per the pilot’s request). Then the Piaggio would have been released, and finally my student and I would have been released. The Piaggio would have been delayed, but because we waited for the Citation to circle back and land, our departure time would probably have been about the same as it actually was.
Figure 3
JULY 2016
TWIN & TURBINE • 31