What are standard ATC procedures from clearance to landing?

Standard ATC procedures take a controlled IFR flight through clearance delivery, ground, tower, departure, en-route control, approach, tower and ground after landing. The pilot copies and reads back each ATC clearance, flies the latest authorised route and level, checks in after frequency changes, and lands only after an explicit landing clearance.

In our Aviation & Real-World Flying coverage, this sequence assumes controlled departure and destination aerodromes. Smaller facilities may combine positions, while built-in simulator ATC may omit some hand-offs. The broad ATC standard remains recognisable, but exact phraseology and readback rules vary by country.

What does an ATC clearance provide?

An ATC clearance provides authorisation to proceed under the conditions specified by the controller.

Filing an IFR flight plan is only a request; it does not authorise the pilot to depart or fly the filed route. A typical IFR clearance may provide:

• A clearance limit, usually the destination or another defined point
• The authorised route, including a departure procedure where applicable
• An initial altitude or flight level and, in some systems, a higher level to expect later
• A departure frequency
• A transponder code
• Special release, void-time or departure instructions where local procedures require them

Fly clearance is not standard phraseology; the intended term is usually flight clearance, IFR clearance or simply ATC clearance. None of these automatically includes permission to push back, taxi onto a runway, take off, begin an approach or land. Those actions require their own clearances or instructions.

A clearance also does not transfer responsibility for safe operation to ATC. The pilot in command remains responsible for aircraft limitations, terrain, weather and collision avoidance where applicable.

Standard ATC procedure from clearance delivery to landing

A controlled IFR flight normally follows nine operational stages, although one controller may perform several roles.

1. Prepare before calling. Obtain the weather and ATIS where available, note its identifying letter, check the active runway and have the relevant airport and departure charts ready. Review the filed route so that any amendment is immediately apparent.
2. Obtain the IFR clearance. Call clearance delivery with the aircraft callsign and, where local practice requires it, aircraft type, parking position, destination and ATIS code. Copy the complete clearance and read it back. Query any route, altitude or departure instruction that is ambiguous or beyond the aircraft's capability.
3. Request start, pushback and taxi as applicable. Ground control issues the approved route towards the departure runway. Read back the runway, taxi route and every holding-point or hold-short instruction. Pushback and engine-start permissions vary by airport; they are not separate ATC clearances everywhere. Our practical pushback, taxi-route and hold-short workflow covers this stage in more detail.
4. Contact tower for departure. Report ready as locally required. Tower may tell the aircraft to hold position, enter the runway or line up and wait; none of those phrases permits take-off. Take off only after a clearance that identifies the aircraft and runway, then follow the cleared heading, altitude or published departure rather than assuming runway heading.
5. Check in with departure control. After tower instructs a frequency change, call departure with the callsign, altitude passing and cleared altitude. The controller may issue radar vectors, a higher level, direct routing or instructions to resume the cleared route.
6. Continue through en-route control. At each hand-off, read back the frequency, select it and check in. Maintain the latest cleared route and level until ATC changes them. A requested shortcut, climb or weather deviation is not approved merely because the pilot has asked for it.
7. Prepare for arrival. Obtain destination weather and ATIS, brief the likely arrival and approach, and verify that the aircraft's navigation data matches the clearance. A STAR clearance does not always authorise descent; the required wording depends on the national system. See our explanation of how published SIDs and STARs interact with later ATC amendments.
8. Fly the approach and obtain landing clearance. Approach control may assign vectors, speeds and altitudes before clearing the aircraft for an instrument or visual approach. Contact tower when instructed. An approach clearance permits the approach under its stated conditions, but only tower's landing clearance permits landing on a controlled runway.
9. Vacate and contact ground. After touchdown, leave the runway using the assigned or a suitable safe exit. The aircraft is not clear until every part of it has passed the runway holding-position marking. Contact or monitor ground as instructed and obtain the required taxi clearance to parking.

Built-in simulator ATC may merge clearance delivery with ground, use one controller for several stages or issue routing that differs from the flight-management system. When using that ATC system, fly the latest clearance rather than quietly reverting to the route loaded in the aircraft. If it cannot be flown safely, respond unable or request an alternative.

How should ATC give an IFR clearance at clearance delivery?

A controller should give an IFR clearance in a predictable order, then verify that every safety-critical element was read back correctly.

1. Review the flight plan. Confirm the destination, requested route, aircraft capability and any local flow or departure restrictions.
2. State the clearance limit and route. Name the destination or other limit, followed by the SID, transition, fixes, airways or amended routing. Use as filed only when the unchanged filed route is genuinely being authorised.
3. Issue the vertical clearance. State the initial altitude or flight level. If an expected higher level is included, make clear that it is planning information rather than immediate authority to climb.
4. Provide communication and surveillance details. Give the departure frequency and transponder code when these are part of local clearance delivery.
5. Check the readback. Correct any omitted or incorrect route, level, code or restriction immediately. For a long amendment, splitting the clearance into manageable parts reduces readback errors.

The US-style mnemonic CRAFT means clearance limit, route, altitude, frequency and transponder. It is a useful copying order, not a worldwide requirement; ICAO-based and national formats may arrange or omit elements differently.

ATC clearance delivery example

A fictional US-style clearance could be transmitted as:

November One Two Three Alpha Bravo, cleared to Lakeside Airport via the Alpha Two departure, then as filed. Maintain five thousand feet; expect flight level one eight zero ten minutes after departure. Departure one two three decimal four five zero; squawk four two seven one.

The pilot's readback would be:

Cleared to Lakeside via the Alpha Two departure, then as filed; maintain five thousand, expect flight level one eight zero ten minutes after departure, departure one two three decimal four five zero, squawk four two seven one, November One Two Three Alpha Bravo.

This clearance authorises the route and initial altitude. The words expect flight level one eight zero do not authorise a climb, and the clearance does not permit taxi or take-off. Other countries may omit the expected level, pass the frequency or code separately, or use different wording.

How does an ATC check-in work?

An ATC check-in identifies the aircraft and confirms its present vertical state after a hand-off.

A complete first call normally includes the facility name, callsign, present altitude or flight level, and the assigned level when climbing or descending. Arrival calls may also include the ATIS identifier:

• Departure, November One Two Three Alpha Bravo, passing one thousand eight hundred, climbing five thousand.
• Centre, November One Two Three Alpha Bravo, flight level one eight zero.
• Approach, November One Two Three Alpha Bravo, descending seven thousand, information Bravo.

Local practice may permit a shorter call when an automated radar hand-off has already transferred the flight details. Do not repeat the entire route clearance unless asked. Our guide to standard call structure, frequency changes and accurate readbacks explains the wider radio procedure.

Contact means change frequency and call the next controller. Monitor usually means change frequency and listen unless the controller calls first. If nobody responds, verify the digits, active radio, audio selection and volume; retry during a clear gap, then return to the previous frequency if appropriate rather than changing route or altitude on your own.

How do approach and landing clearances differ?

An approach clearance authorises the named approach, while a landing clearance separately authorises touchdown on the specified controlled runway.

Read back the runway with a landing clearance and query any mismatch immediately. Traffic sequence information such as number two or follow the Airbus does not by itself authorise landing. The distinction between descent, approach and landing permissions is especially useful when simulator ATC issues them close together.

If no landing clearance has arrived by the point at which a safe landing can no longer be assured, go around. A clearance never requires the pilot to continue an unstable approach or land on an obstructed or unsuitable runway.

Which ATC instructions must pilots read back?

Pilots should read back every safety-critical clearance required by the applicable national rules, using the aircraft callsign.

• IFR route clearances and amendments
• Assigned altitudes, flight levels, headings and speed restrictions
• Runway assignments and take-off or landing clearances
• Instructions to enter, cross, backtrack, hold short of or wait on a runway
• Approach clearances and missed-approach instructions
• Conditional clearances, including the condition and identified traffic
• Transponder codes, pressure settings and frequency changes where local rules require readback

Roger means a transmission was received; it does not prove that a clearance was copied correctly. Wilco indicates an intention to comply but does not replace a mandatory readback. If ATC corrects one element, repeat the corrected element with the callsign.

What mistakes commonly break the ATC procedure?

Most ATC errors in simulation come from acting on an expectation, request or preloaded route instead of the latest explicit clearance.

Does the same ATC sequence apply to VFR flights?

VFR flights use the same ground, runway and landing procedures at controlled aerodromes but do not normally receive a complete IFR route clearance.

A VFR pilot may receive an airspace-entry, transit, altitude or routing clearance where the airspace requires one, and may request en-route radar services where available. At an uncontrolled aerodrome there is no ATC landing clearance; pilots follow the published traffic procedure, make the locally required calls and remain responsible for spacing and runway safety.

What if a pilot cannot comply with an ATC instruction?

The pilot should say unable immediately, give a short operational reason when useful and request a safe alternative.

Do not read back an instruction as accepted and then quietly deviate from it. Weather, terrain, fuel, aircraft performance or an unstable approach may justify requesting another heading, altitude, runway or delay. In an emergency, state the emergency and intentions clearly and take the action required for safety under the applicable rules.

For radio failure, follow the published lost-communications procedure for the jurisdiction and flight conditions rather than inventing a new route. Until a clearance is amended, cancelled or superseded, the last valid clearance remains the controlling instruction.