Exercise N · for US student pilots
Holds, approaches and the missed
The arrival half: holding instructions, the approach clearance, and what you say when it does not work out.
Worked here at Palo Alto (KPAO). In the app the same prompts use your own home airport and call sign.
Prompt 1 of 5
NorCal Approach tells you: cleared to the San Carlos intersection, hold west on the two seven zero radial, seven mile legs, left turns, expect further clearance at one niner two zero. Respond.
What the AIM says: JO 7110.65 4-6-4 is what the controller must include: direction from the fix, the fix, the radial or course, leg length, and the turn direction ONLY when left. There is no published requirement to read a holding clearance back — but read back the numbers you have to fly, and note the expect-further-clearance time, because it is what you do if you lose radio.Prompt 2 of 5
You are approaching the hold and have heard nothing since. Report reaching it.
What the AIM says: AIM 5-3-8 f: the time and altitude on REACHING the clearance limit is a required report, and so is leaving it. The AIM says these should be made without a specific request, so make them — but it is "should", not "must", and a grader should not fail you for the phrasing.Prompt 3 of 5
NorCal Approach says: cleared direct San Carlos, maintain three thousand until San Carlos, cleared straight-in I-L-S runway 13 approach. Read it back.
What the AIM says: JO 7110.65 4-8-1 b 2: the 'maintain until' element exists because you are not yet on a published segment. 4-8-1 e: 'straight-in' is said deliberately to tell you the course reversal is not wanted, and must be restated in the clearance itself. Hold the assigned altitude until established on a segment with a lower published altitude (AIM 5-4-6 h 1).Prompt 4 of 5
You reach minimums on the approach and cannot see the runway. Tell Palo Alto Tower.
What the AIM says: AIM 5-5-5 a 2: say a missed approach is being made and give the reason. Then request a specific action — another approach, hold while it improves, or the alternate. The approach clearance already authorised the published missed approach (JO 7110.65 4-8-9 a), so nothing extra is issued for it. The AIM publishes no set wording for the pilot's call, so say it plainly.Prompt 5 of 5
You are in clear air well below the cloud, twenty miles from Half Moon Bay, and would rather finish visually. Cancel IFR with NorCal Approach.
What the AIM says: AIM 5-1-15: 'cancel my IFR flight plan', in VFR conditions outside Class A. Then change to the right frequency, squawk VFR and fly a VFR altitude. Radar service stops with the cancellation — if you want advisories afterwards you have to ask for them separately.
What this exercise is graded against
| Call or readback | Graded against |
|---|---|
| What a holding clearance contains | JO 7110.65 4-6-4; 4-6-1 b, c |
| Required holding reports: reaching and leaving | AIM 5-3-8 f; 5-3-3 a 1 (f), (g) |
| The approach clearance and its "maintain until established" element | JO 7110.65 4-8-1 a, b 2 |
| Why "straight-in" is said, and restated | JO 7110.65 4-8-1 e |
| The approach clearance authorises the published missed approach | JO 7110.65 4-8-9 a |
| Telling ATC of a missed approach, with the reason, then requesting an action | AIM 5-5-5 a 2, a 6; 5-4-21 a, f |
| Cancelling IFR in flight, and what stops when you do | AIM 5-1-15; JO 7110.65 4-2-10 |
Now say them to a controller
Push-to-talk, at your airport, with today’s altimeter. The AI controller answers and the grader tells you what the AIM says about each call.
Prompts and notes are written in our own words from the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual (Change 3, 7/9/26) and the Pilot/Controller Glossary, with paragraph references. Frequencies are from the FAA NASR data and are for training only. Study aid; not approved or endorsed by the FAA. Always defer to the AIM, current FAA publications, your instructor and your examiner.