Practice an IFR clearance readback

This is practice for reading an IFR clearance back out loud. A simulated controller issues the clearance. You copy it, then you say it back.

An IFR clearance is an authorization to proceed under specified conditions in controlled airspace. AIM 4-4-1 says it is not permission to break a rule or a minimum altitude. If the clearance would put the airplane somewhere you should not be, you ask for something else. 14 CFR 91.123(a) says that when you are uncertain of an ATC clearance, you shall immediately request clarification from ATC. The same rule says you do not deviate from a clearance unless you get an amended clearance, an emergency exists, or you are responding to a TCAS resolution advisory.

What you are copying

Pilots remember a departure clearance with CRAFT: clearance limit, route, altitude, frequency, and transponder. CRAFT is a memory aid. It is not a heading in the AIM. The items are in FAA Order JO 7110.65, paragraph 4-2-1, and in AIM 4-4-3.

The order in JO 7110.65 paragraph 4-2-1 is aircraft identification, clearance limit, a SID or vectors where they apply, route of flight, altitude data in the order flown, Mach number if it applies, then holding instructions, special information, and frequency and beacon code information. The departure procedure is its own item, in front of the route.

Clearance limit comes early. When the limit is an airport, JO 7110.65 says the word airport follows the name: cleared to the destination airport. AIM 4-4-3 says the same thing, and it says a limit can instead be a NAVAID, an intersection, or a waypoint. If the type is known, the clearance includes the type. At some places a short-range clearance stops at a fix in or just outside the terminal area, and you are told the frequency where center will issue the rest.

The route is what you filed, unless traffic makes ATC change it. AIM 5-2-6 says an abbreviated clearance uses that route when it can be approved with little or no revision. Do not accept cleared as filed if the route or the destination was changed before departure. Say so on the first call and ask for a full route clearance. When a departure procedure will be flown, the controller states the DP name, the current number, and the transition after cleared to the destination airport and before then as filed. Cleared as filed does not include the filed en route altitude. That altitude is stated, or you are told when to expect it.

Frequency and beacon code are the last item in JO 7110.65 paragraph 4-2-1. AIM 5-2-6 treats the departure frequency and the beacon code as additional instructions with the DP. Read both.

AIM 4-4-7 tells you to make a written record when you are IFR. The clearance can differ from the flight plan, and ATC can add a condition, such as a particular departure route, because other airplanes are in the picture.

The readback

AIM 4-4-7 says pilots of airborne aircraft should read back the parts of a clearance or instruction that contain an altitude assignment, a vector, or a runway assignment. Read altitudes, altitude restrictions, and vectors in the same sequence they were given. An altitude that appears only on a charted procedure is not read back unless the controller states it. Put the aircraft identification in every readback. The first readback of a taxi, departure, or landing clearance includes the runway, and left, right, or center when that applies.

If you lose a piece, do not invent it. The Pilot/Controller Glossary says say again is used to request a repeat of the last transmission, and that it usually names the part you did not understand or receive. The example in the glossary is say again all after a fix. AIM 5-2-6 says to ask for verification if any portion is not clearly understood.

Roger does not do this job. The glossary says roger means you have received all of the last transmission, and that it should not answer a question that needs a yes or a no. A clearance readback is the clearance, with your call sign on it.

Void time and hold for release

At an airport without an operating control tower, AIM 5-2-7 says the departure gets a release, with a release time or a void time if one applies, or a hold for release. A clearance void time makes the clearance void if you are not airborne by a stated time. If you do not get off before that time, advise ATC of your intentions as soon as possible. The time they give you for that call cannot exceed 30 minutes. No contact within 30 minutes after the void time and the airplane is considered overdue, and search and rescue starts.

A void time does not cancel the departure clearance or the IFR flight plan. It withdraws your authority to depart IFR until you acknowledge a new release. Departing at or after the void time means you do not have IFR separation, and you may be in violation of 14 CFR 91.173, which requires an ATC clearance before IFR in controlled airspace. If you leave VFR after the void time, do not use that IFR transponder code.

The AIM example of the phrase is: clearance void if not off by the void time, and, if required, if not off by that time, advise the named facility not later than a stated time of your intentions. Hold for release, in that same paragraph, keeps the IFR departure on the ground until ATC issues a release time or further instructions. You may also cancel the IFR flight plan and depart VFR. Use the VFR transponder code before takeoff. An IFR clearance may not be available after departure.

Practice it out loud

On WilcoAI the controller is simulated. You hold push-to-talk, read the clearance back, and release. The score is correctness, clarity, and speed. The debrief shows what you got right, what you missed, what to watch out for, and the transcript. Quick Drill has an IFR toggle and tags the category with its FAA reference. A set is 10 reps. One Daily Challenge attempt a day is free, about 60 to 90 seconds, with a streak and badges. No account. Set a callsign and aircraft once. iPhone and iPad, iOS 26 or later. The session needs internet. The words are on the ATC phraseology page. The open-field release is with the CTAF calls.

Training aid only. Not for flight use. Never act on simulated clearances.