Agency Still Plans On The Phraseology Change, But No Date Set

The FAA decided to delay the implementation of "Climb Via" phraseology it had planned to use in Standard Instrument Departure procedures (SID), and cancel the "Descend Via" procedures it has had in place. A NOTAM issued August 15th "cancels procedures contained in N JO 7110.584, “Climb Via” and “Descend Via” Procedures and Phraseology. There are concerns over coordination of pilot and controller briefing material. These procedures will be reissued at a later date."

The FAA had planned to implement use of "climb via" phraseology for route transitions and/or the assignment of standard instrument departure (SID) and area navigation (RNAV) SID procedures containing speed and altitude restrictions. The NBAA noted that diligent adherence to these procedures on the part of aircrews is critical and non-compliance can easily result in Pilot Deviations being filed by the FAA.

The FAA had published the phraseology in the Pilot/Controller glossary as "Requires the aircraft to navigate laterally and vertically to meet all published restrictions. Descent/climb is at pilot discretion. Subsequent issuance of a "maintain" clearance deletes published altitude restrictions.

When those briefing material concerns are ironed out, pilots won't be afforded a lot of latitude when reading back clearances. The FAA said that phrases such as ‘on the' or 'descending on' a procedure are not acceptable” and could create additional workload for ATC when verifying instructions issued by a prior controller.

FMI: NOTAM