CTO Clearance Delivery & Ground Control 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A pilot requests an IFR clearance but the route filed contains a known NAVAID outage. What should Clearance Delivery do?
- Issue the clearance as filed and note the outage
- Refuse to issue any clearance until the route is corrected
- Coordinate with the ARTCC and issue an amended route that avoids the outage (Correct answer)
- Issue a VFR clearance instead
Correct answer: Coordinate with the ARTCC and issue an amended route that avoids the outage
Clearance Delivery must coordinate with the ARTCC to provide an amended IFR route that avoids known facility outages.
Question 2: Under what condition may Ground Control clear an aircraft to cross an active runway?
- Whenever the aircraft requests it
- Only with explicit coordination and approval from Local Control (Correct answer)
- Whenever the runway is not in use for the previous 5 minutes
- Ground Control may never authorize runway crossings
Correct answer: Only with explicit coordination and approval from Local Control
Runway crossings require explicit coordination and approval from Local Control, who has jurisdiction over active runways.
Question 3: What phraseology does Ground Control use to instruct a pilot to stop immediately due to a conflict?
- Hold short
- Stop immediately
- Hold position (Correct answer)
- Stand by
Correct answer: Hold position
'Hold position' is the standard ATC phraseology used to instruct a pilot to stop movement immediately on the ground.
Question 4: A departing aircraft has been issued a void time clearance. What does this mean?
- The aircraft must depart before the specified time or the clearance is cancelled (Correct answer)
- The aircraft may depart any time within 30 minutes of the void time
- The aircraft must request a new squawk code at the void time
- The void time is when the aircraft must be airborne and contact approach
Correct answer: The aircraft must depart before the specified time or the clearance is cancelled
A void time clearance specifies that the aircraft must be airborne before the stated time or the IFR clearance is automatically cancelled.
Question 5: When issuing a taxi clearance, Ground Control should issue instructions to the runway via:
- The shortest route regardless of hold-short points
- Specific taxiways and include all hold-short instructions explicitly (Correct answer)
- General directions only (e.g., 'taxi to runway via the north side')
- Only the first taxiway, then wait for the pilot to request further instructions
Correct answer: Specific taxiways and include all hold-short instructions explicitly
Taxi clearances must include specific taxiway designations and all required hold-short instructions to prevent runway incursions.
Question 6: What information is NOT typically included in an ATIS broadcast that Clearance Delivery references when issuing clearances?
- Active runway
- Current altimeter setting
- Departure frequency
- Pilot's fuel quantity (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Pilot's fuel quantity
Fuel quantity is a pilot responsibility and is not part of ATC information systems like ATIS.
Question 7: A pilot reads back an incorrect transponder code after receiving their IFR clearance. The correct controller action is to:
- Accept the readback since the pilot will set the code when airborne
- Correct the readback immediately by restating the correct code (Correct answer)
- Issue a new squawk code since the original was compromised
- Note the discrepancy in the flight progress strip and move on
Correct answer: Correct the readback immediately by restating the correct code
Controllers must immediately correct any erroneous readbacks to ensure the pilot has the correct information before departure.
CTO Clearance Delivery & Ground Control 2
A pilot requests an IFR clearance but the route filed contains a known NAVAID outage.
What should Clearance Delivery do?