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w5cdt · January 2nd, 2008, 22:27

I'm a newbie with 80 hours flying mainly out of Class C (KAUS). One thing that puzzles me is when I'm asked to switch to tower frequency and check in with tower they often clear me to land when I'm 5 miles out, abeam of the runway (i.e. nowhere near the approach end), and I'm putting along in my Aerobat at 90 kias. Now I know from experience
sometimes another "big guy" is lurking out there on a 10 mile final on the ILS and that he's going to beat me to the numbers. When I get this sort of "distant" landing clearance I'm always ready for tower to cancel the landing clearance and extend me downwind (or some other delaying method).

So my question is this:

Is the ATC rule regarding landing clearance given to the "closest" airplane to the landing runway? even if a 757 is way out there on final and likely to arrive and short final before me?

It's not a big deal ...I'm just puzzled as to why ATC clears me to land when I've got another 3-5 minutes of flying before I'm turning final.

January 2nd, 2008, 22:27	#1
w5cdt Newbie Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Buda Posts: 21	What's the rule on landing clearance? I'm a newbie with 80 hours flying mainly out of Class C (KAUS). One thing that puzzles me is when I'm asked to switch to tower frequency and check in with tower they often clear me to land when I'm 5 miles out, abeam of the runway (i.e. nowhere near the approach end), and I'm putting along in my Aerobat at 90 kias. Now I know from experience sometimes another "big guy" is lurking out there on a 10 mile final on the ILS and that he's going to beat me to the numbers. When I get this sort of "distant" landing clearance I'm always ready for tower to cancel the landing clearance and extend me downwind (or some other delaying method). So my question is this: Is the ATC rule regarding landing clearance given to the "closest" airplane to the landing runway? even if a 757 is way out there on final and likely to arrive and short final before me? It's not a big deal ...I'm just puzzled as to why ATC clears me to land when I've got another 3-5 minutes of flying before I'm turning final.