Departing VMC for a IFR flight plan non towered

[EdFred]

Ok. Give yourself a clearance

Why would I need to do that? I'm VMC.

 

[jbarrass]

It's also the circumstances. A pop-up due to weather, sure. Picking up a clearance in the air because you're too lazy to use the phone or RCO on the ground or you don't want to wait for other departures, not so much in some airspace. Potomac will refuse you in the latter situation, and get nasty about it.


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I depart VFR out of JYO pick up with Potomac nearly 100% of my my flights and they've never refused. A couple standbys but they've never growled at me yet.

It came up on a tour there and they said they liked it since they didn't have to block any airspace for the void.

 

[narchee]

I agree. I've done pop-ups a number of times, and they have always worked out well, but I have a sense they are probably rejected even more than VFR FF based on workload since there's potentially more work for the controller to arrange it.

And it may be one of those "the more you need it, the less likely you can get it" things since with, say lowering ceilings, workload tends to get heavier, especially in busier geographic areas.

That has not been my experience. Two of the times I needed a pop-up clearance involved the weather changing on me in a busy area (both cases under the Bravo shelf and in one case the Chicago area). I made it quite clear when calling up that I needed the pop-up and I got it no problem even though it was in a busy area. If you're asking for a pop-up because you're lazy and not in a bind, then sure I can believe being declined. But if you need one to remain safe, ASK FOR IT, you're going to get it.

"Approach, Junk 123, Request a pop-up clearance to XYZ I'm going to have trouble remaining VFR". No controller on earth is going to refuse that request. And if they did... Declare an emergency and ask again. They will have a lot of questions to answer when the recordings are reviewed. But like I said when needed I've also got immediate assistance.

 

[GCA319]

Like others have said, file from your departure point and call center/approach airborne and pick it up. Easy as that. Just be ready to maintain VFR for a bit in case they can't give you the clearance right away. Granted, there are some facilities who prefer you get it on the ground and depart IFR, so your best bet is to ask the facility that controls the airspace what works best for them. I've found most out west tend to prefer you pick it up airborne when possible.