Rules of the Air — Page 115, Lesson 185

We're moving into a new part of the Rules of the Air chapter now — the procedures for when your radio fails. This is a critical, high-stakes scenario, so let's build it up carefully from the ground. First, let's define the situation. We're talking about a communication failure — that means either your receiver or your transmitter has stopped working. You can't talk to ATC, and you might not even be able to hear them. The rules here are split into two very different situations: what you do at a controlled aerodrome, and what you do when you're separated from other traffic. Let's start with at a controlled aerodrome. If your comms fail while you're flying in the traffic pattern — that's the circuit around the airport — you must keep a watch for instructions issued by visual signals from the control tower. These are light signals and ground signals. And here's the key point: you must comply with those signals. So even though you can't talk, the tower can still direct you with lights, and you are obligated to follow them. Now, the bigger picture — separation of aircraft. Once ATC confirms you have a communication failure, they will maintain separation between you and other traffic. But here's the clever part: they base that separation on a presumption. They assume you will follow the specific procedures I'm about to give you, depending on whether you're in VMC or IMC. VMC is Visual Meteorological Conditions — you can see and fly by reference to the ground. IMC is Instrument Meteorological Conditions — you're in cloud or poor visibility and must fly on instruments. Let's take VMC first. If the failure occurs while you're flying in VMC — and note this applies regardless of whether you're flying VFR or IFR — you must continue to fly in VMC, land at the nearest suitable aerodrome, and report your arrival by the most expeditious means to the appropriate ATCU. ATCU is Air Traffic Control Unit. So the rule is simple: stay visual, get down at the closest airfield that can take you, and tell ATC you've arrived as fast as you possibly can. Now the more complex case — failure in IMC. This has several branches, and I want you to follow each one carefully. First branch: if you are being radar vectored — that means ATC is steering you with headings — you must proceed in the most direct manner to rejoin your current flight plan route, and you must do this no later than the next significant point. While you do this, you squawk A7600. Squawk means setting your transponder code. A7600 is the international code for radio failure — it tells ATC on their radar screen that you've lost comms. And you must take into consideration the applicable minimum flight altitude — you can't descend below the safe altitude for that area. Second branch: if you are en route — that's on your way, not in the pattern — and you're in an area where radar control is provided, you squawk A7600 and maintain your current flight plan for a period of 7 minutes. After those 7 minutes, you adjust your speed and level in accordance with the filed flight plan. The filed flight plan is the one you submitted before departure — the one ATC has on file. Third branch: if you are en route outside an area where radar control is provided — so no radar coverage — you maintain your current flight plan for 20 minutes following your failure to report over a compulsory reporting point. A compulsory reporting point is a fix where you're required to call in. When you don't report, that's the moment the ATCO — the Air Traffic Control Officer — will know there's a communication problem. After those 20 minutes, you adjust level and speed in accordance with the filed flight plan. And here's the reasoning: those 20 minutes give the ATCO time to resolve any potential conflictions — that's conflicts between aircraft — that may arise during the transition to the filed flight plan profile. Now, subsequent actions. After you've complied with all of the above, here's what you do next. You continue according to the filed flight plan route to the appropriate designated navigation aid serving the destination aerodrome. A designated navigation aid is a radio beacon — like a VOR or NDB — that's specified for that airport. When required to ensure compliance with the procedure, you hold over this aid until commencement of descent. Holding means flying a racetrack pattern over the fix. Then you commence descent from that radio navigation aid at, or as close as possible to, the expected approach time — that's the EAT — last received and acknowledged. If you never received and acknowledged an EAT, you descend at, or as close as possible to, the ETA — the estimated time of arrival — resulting from your current flight plan. Next, you complete a normal instrument approach procedure as specified for the designated aid, and you land, if possible, within 30 minutes after the ETA or the last acknowledged EAT — whichever is the later. So you have a 30-minute window to get on the ground. Finally, you report to ATC as soon as possible after landing. That's your last obligation — get on the phone, tell them you're down. Let me show you the flight level structure for IFR and VFR traffic, because it ties into how separation is managed. shows the IFR and VFR flight levels up to and including FL — that's flight level. And shows the levels above FL. These are the cruising levels that keep IFR and VFR traffic separated vertically. So to tie it all together: in VMC, you land at the nearest suitable aerodrome. In IMC, you follow the branch that matches your situation — radar vectored, en route with radar, or en route without radar — then you fly to the designated aid, hold, descend at your EAT or ETA, complete the instrument approach, land within 30 minutes, and report. That's the complete communication failure procedure.