Does ATC care if you're circling at an uncontrolled field?

Jim K

Jim K

Final Approach
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Richard Digits
Flew a few approaches in the ~600' overcast we had a few days ago. It was in the Cessna, so I was limited to ILS and VOR. Just so happened that the ILS at DNV was nearly a direct tailwind. There was plenty of runway to take the tailwind, but I decided it would be a good opportunity to practice a CTL.

It then occurred to me that all of the CTL's I'd done previously were at towered fields. Did the controller care which runway I was using? After all the airspace was blocked for me until I called, and technically the circle would be in uncontrolled airspace. On the other hand a circle would take more time, so maybe they'd want to know. I mentioned it and he didn't seem to care, so I probably looked like an idiot.
 
Nope. Had this experience at gatlinburg recently. They clear you for the approach. They don’t care which runway you land on, they are blocking for the whole airport until you cancel. If you go missed during the circle, follow he missed you were cleared for.
 
Jim K said:
Flew a few approaches in the ~600' overcast we had a few days ago. It was in the Cessna, so I was limited to ILS and VOR. Just so happened that the ILS at DNV was nearly a direct tailwind. There was plenty of runway to take the tailwind, but I decided it would be a good opportunity to practice a CTL.

It then occurred to me that all of the CTL's I'd done previously were at towered fields. Did the controller care which runway I was using? After all the airspace was blocked for me until I called, and technically the circle would be in uncontrolled airspace. On the other hand a circle would take more time, so maybe they'd want to know. I mentioned it and he didn't seem to care, so I probably looked like an idiot.
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What @Tokirbymd said above is true. They cannot issue circling instructions to you or even say ‘circle to.’ I suppose some might care. It could help them guess about how long it’s likely to be before you get down. If you offer it up to them that you are going to circle they may say thanks, or they may get all snarky and give you a lesson in about how they don’t care.
 
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Nope. Cleared hundreds for the LOC at KHXD and never cared it they circled.
 
I thought there was a thread here or another forum, where a pilot was chewed on by ATC for doing a go around for some reason, and re-entering the pattern to land. ATC could see the aircraft on radar/ADS-B maneuvering around the airport and chastised the pilot for doing so without notifying them.

Not saying ATC was correct, but just something I recalled.
 
It sounds like this pilot was on an instrument approach (RNAV (GPS) Y RWY 08) and because of windshear elected to go around and stay in the traffic pattern instead of executing the published missed approach. Is that correct?
 
midwestpa24 said:
I thought there was a thread here or another forum, where a pilot was chewed on by ATC for doing a go around for some reason, and re-entering the pattern to land. ATC could see the aircraft on radar/ADS-B maneuvering around the airport and chastised the pilot for doing so without notifying them.

Not saying ATC was correct, but just something I recalled.
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Sounds like maybe they Canceled but didn’t notify ATC immediately.
 
At a nontowered field, ATC clears you for the approach, not to specific minimums or whether you need to circle or maneuver or not. The only reason they should care at all is if they are waiting to clear someone behind you.
 
Tokirbymd said:
Nope. Had this experience at gatlinburg recently. They clear you for the approach. They don’t care which runway you land on, they are blocking for the whole airport until you cancel. If you go missed during the circle, follow he missed you were cleared for.
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Or if you find the field is in nice, wide open VMC, and you went missed for reasons other than not seeing the field (a catholic bear ran onto the runway), cancel IFR, and circle again VFR.
 
I do not see how the controller could clear a successive IFR arrival without a cancellation or downtime. A subsequent instrument approach would certainly conflict with the first arrival. A visual approach wouldn't work either. Several years ago, the FAA disallowed successive (follow the leader) visual approaches at non-towered airports for the exact reason that the leader could go around.
 
WDD said:
Or if you find the field is in nice, wide open VMC, and you went missed for reasons other than not seeing the field (a catholic bear ran onto the runway), cancel IFR, and circle again VFR.
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I guess a catholic bear would be more unusual then a papal forest defecation.
 
PastZTL said:
I do not see how the controller could clear a successive IFR arrival without a cancellation or downtime. A subsequent instrument approach would certainly conflict with the first arrival. A visual approach wouldn't work either. Several years ago, the FAA disallowed successive (follow the leader) visual approaches at non-towered airports for the exact reason that the leader could go around.
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I don’t have the letter anymore but the FAA also stated by per the .65 ATC must maintain the ability to communicate with both aircraft when applying visual sep. With one on CTAF, that wouldn’t work. You can guarantee there were controllers out there clearing successive VAs to non towered fields before that letter came out.
 
I've done it myself plenty of times. Unless they rolled back the prohibition, there was no exception allowed because you were talking to the aircraft.
 
Velocity173 said:
I don’t have the letter anymore but the FAA also stated by per the .65 ATC must maintain the ability to communicate with both aircraft when applying visual sep. With one on CTAF, that wouldn’t work. You can guarantee there were controllers out there clearing successive VAs to non towered fields before that letter came out.
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I was thinking it would be that. Not a change, but a reminder to follow the rules.
 
luvflyin said:
I was thinking it would be that. Not a change, but a reminder to follow the rules.
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It was definitely a change. I just checked with a buddy of mine and successive visual approaches (first one reports the airport in sight, second reports the airport or the proceeding aircraft) to a non-towered airport are still prohibited.
 
PastZTL said:
It was definitely a change. I just checked with a buddy of mine and successive visual approaches (first one reports the airport in sight, second reports the airport or the proceeding aircraft) to a non-towered airport are still prohibited.
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That's why you get "cookies for cancelations"
 
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