Aero-Tips!

A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of "there are no old, bold pilots.")

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Aero-Tips 09.02.06

You're landing at a tower-controlled airport and the tower tells you you're "cleared for the option". What are your responsibilities? What freedom do you have to act?

According to the Pilot-Controller Glossary "cleared for the option" is authorization for an aircraft to make a touch-and-go, low approach, missed approach, stop and go, or full stop landing at the discretion of the pilot.

Why use it?

Clearance for the option is normally used in training so that an instructor can evaluate a student's performance under changing situations. Although tower controllers can often anticipate the desirability of an "option" clearance, it's usually up to the pilot to ask for "the option."

For instance, when I'm training a student on balked landings I might want to spring it on him/her at the last minute, simulating a real-world go-around. If I ask the tower for a "go-around" or a "low approach" as we progress in the traffic pattern the surprise is lost, and my student might not fully experience the balked landing plans change close to the ground. If I ask for "the option", however, my student doesn't know if we're going to land or not, so I can command the go-around at the last minute for maximum realism, without having to worry about airspace issues.

Similarly, with an instrument student a clearance "for the option" lets me decide whether the pilot lands or misses the approach at the Missed Approach Point. It gives instructors greater freedom to present maneuvers as closely as possible to how they'd arise in day-to-day flying.

Variations

As stated, clearance for "the option" permits any of the following, at pilot discretion:

• Touch-and-go. If touch-and-goes are your thing, the clearance gives you authority to do so.
• Low approach. Generally considered part of instrument instruction, a low approach includes flying the published missed approach without touching down, flying some alternative missed approach procedure as assigned by ATC or designed by the pilot (in visual conditions), or simply flying low over the airport while maneuvering for a departure or a visual traffic pattern. The low approach also describes a go-around (balked landing) during VFR operations.
• Missed approach. This differs from the low approach in that the airplane climbs begins at the missed approach point from an instrument approach without an intermediate level phase overflying the runway.
• Stop and go. This is where the plane lands and comes to a complete stop on the runway, the pilot pauses briefly to reconfigure the airplane for takeoff, and the flight takes off on the remaining runway.
• Full stop landing. As the name implies, this is a complete stop and taxi clear of the runway, either taxiing to parking or following taxiways for another departure.

Aero-tip of the day: Understand your "options" when you are cleared for them. And know what possible actions to expect of another airplane if it is "cleared for the option".

FMI: Aero-Tips