Clearence available upon request

This one kinda stumps me everytime I am told this.
Call tower, request your IFR clearence, they tell you "taxi to runway
xxx - clearence available upon request"

what I always do is just read back the taxi instructions and wait for
them to call me back with the clearence. I guess I dont understand why
they say "available upon request" when I just requested it.

Am I handling it the right way?

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 01:47:30 -0800, Jeff wrote:

This one kinda stumps me everytime I am told this.
Call tower, request your IFR clearence, they tell you "taxi to runway
xxx - clearence available upon request"

what I always do is just read back the taxi instructions and wait for
them to call me back with the clearence. I guess I dont understand why
they say "available upon request" when I just requested it.

Am I handling it the right way?

They are probably saying "clearance on request" which means that they have
called ATC and requested your clearance. So yes, waiting for them to call
you back is proper.


Ron (EPM) (N5843Q, Mooney M20E) (CP, ASEL, ASES, IA)

"Ron Rosenfeld"
They are probably saying "clearance on request" which means that they have
called ATC and requested your clearance. So yes, waiting for them to call
you back is proper.

Yep, what Ron said. It is non-obvious terminology for the pilot - maybe
controller obvious. But it's one of very many that you just get to know
after awhile.

I usually get "on request" and I know to just sit tight until they call
back. Usually leave me sitting on the ramp. Next time they do it at
Westchester, I'll shut down.

In article ,
"Maule Driver" wrote:

"Ron Rosenfeld"
They are probably saying "clearance on request" which means that they have
called ATC and requested your clearance. So yes, waiting for them to call
you back is proper.

Yep, what Ron said. It is non-obvious terminology for the pilot - maybe
controller obvious. But it's one of very many that you just get to know
after awhile.

It sure is non-obvious. I remember the first time I got that, during my
IFR training. The conversation went something like this:

"Clearance, Cessna xxxx, IFR to where-ever."

"Cessna xxxx, clearance on request."

[at this point, I figured the guy was telling me he'd give me my
clearance as soon as I requested it, as if it was another way of saying
"advise when ready to copy", so I said:]

"I'd like my clearance now."

You can imagine how the conversation went downhill from there :-)

In a previous article, Roy Smith said:
"Clearance, Cessna xxxx, IFR to where-ever."

"Cessna xxxx, clearance on request."
[snip]
"I'd like my clearance now."

You can imagine how the conversation went downhill from there :-)

Knowing the controllers I've encountered, they'd just repeat "clearance on
request", forever and ever, never explaining what it means no matter how
puzzled you sounded.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Their constitution is unwritten, and is mostly based on common law and
practice. In other words, they do something wrong and it then becomes
the norm. -- Laurie Couturier, on the British legal system

Heh, heh, first time I heard that, I answered, "OK, I request my
clearance". The tower guy, knowing he had a new guy, patiently
explained that what that phrase meant was, he had requested my
clearance from ATC and would give it to me as soon as he received it.
I'm not stupid, and neither are you, if you haven't heard this
experession before, it's not suprising you don't understand it. The
phrase is ambiguous. Of course if you have heard it before, and know
what it means, it is no longer ambiguous. I had another one, "Cleared
CRUISE 4000' to (waypont) (or something like that). I didn't know what
to do with that one either. One thing is, clearances can't be
ambiguous, we pilots need to be certain what is being said, so we know
what to do with the plane. Unfortunately, the only way to clear it up,
is to ask, which, admittadly makes the asker look like a dummie. One
thing about life, we all look like dummies from time to time. Maybe
the best response would be, "lets see, there is a coffee spill on the
section of the AIM that explains that phrase, maybe you could help me
out here". I call it my coffee spill response.

(Paul Tomblin) wrote in message ...
In a previous article, Roy Smith said:
"Clearance, Cessna xxxx, IFR to where-ever."

"Cessna xxxx, clearance on request."
[snip]
"I'd like my clearance now."

You can imagine how the conversation went downhill from there :-)

Knowing the controllers I've encountered, they'd just repeat "clearance on
request", forever and ever, never explaining what it means no matter how
puzzled you sounded.

"Clearance, Cessna xxxx, IFR to where-ever."

"Cessna xxxx, clearance on request."

[at this point, I figured the guy was telling me he'd give me my
clearance as soon as I requested it, as if it was another way of saying
"advise when ready to copy", so I said:]

"I'd like my clearance now."

You can imagine how the conversation went downhill from there :-)

Oh yeah.... I've overheard one of these before. It gets ugly. Pilot thinks
the controller is yanking his chain just to be funny. Controller is upset
he's spending too much time with one pilot.

That was the first thing that crossed my mind when I was given that.
But I just kept my mouth shut


Roy Smith wrote:

"I'd like my clearance now."

You can imagine how the conversation went downhill from there :-)

In a previous article, Jeff said:
This one kinda stumps me everytime I am told this.
Call tower, request your IFR clearence, they tell you "taxi to runway
xxx - clearence available upon request"

what I always do is just read back the taxi instructions and wait for
them to call me back with the clearence. I guess I dont understand why
they say "available upon request" when I just requested it.

I never understand why they phrase it that way either, since it seems to
mean that they've requested it, but don't have it yet. But since they
told you to taxi, you should taxi - they probably figure that the computer
will spit out your clearance by the time you get to the runway.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
I forsee one of those "open your wallet and repeat after me,
_help yourself_" moments in your local friendly workshop.
-- Tanuki

"Jeff" wrote in message ...

This one kinda stumps me everytime I am told this.
Call tower, request your IFR clearence, they tell you "taxi to runway
xxx - clearence available upon request"

what I always do is just read back the taxi instructions and wait for
them to call me back with the clearence. I guess I dont understand why
they say "available upon request" when I just requested it.

Am I handling it the right way?


Are you sure they're saying "clearence available upon request" and not
"clearance on request"?