eetrojan
Pattern Altitude
I have a question re flight following and Charlie shelves. I made the diagram of my local area to provide some context.
I train out of a Class C airport called John Wayne (SNA), which is near Ontario (ONT), another Charlie. As you can see, there are several delta airports that are underneath the 2700 ft. floor of ONT’s shelf, including Riverside (RAL), Chino (CNO), and Brackett (POC).
When we fly the green course northeast from SNA to CNO without flight following (i.e. without talking to SoCal Approach, our local TRACON), we fly at 3,000 ft., call CNO tower, and then descend below ONT’s shelf by dropping down to 2500 feet before we get there, at around “A.” That makes sense.
I am trying to understand what I must or can do, however, if I was getting traffic advisories from SoCal Approach.
As I understood him, my instructor tells me that IF I was flying the red course eastbound to RAL, at 4000 ft. and while receiving traffic advisories from SoCal approach, I could fly through the Charlie shelf as shown by the red line below and then, after SoCal tells me to contact RAL tower at “B,” I could continue flying in the Charlie even though I am no longer communicating with SoCal (be kind of hard to do otherwise, of course), contact RAL tower and, once radio contact is made with RAL tower, descend down from the Charlie into RAL’s delta.
So, that’s my basis for this question:
Assuming that I’m flying the blue course northbound from SNA to POC at 3,500 ft. and while on flight following with SoCal, and assuming that SoCal tells me to contact POC tower at “C,” can I without busting airspace fly through the edge of the Charlie on my way down to POC’s delta? ...or MUST I duck under the Charlie like the green course because I was handed off to tower, am not communicating with SoCal, and am not currently in the Charlie?
Would the answer be different if I was already in the ONT Charlie when SoCal told me to contact POC tower, so that the blue course situation were more clearly like the red course situation?
Thanks!
I train out of a Class C airport called John Wayne (SNA), which is near Ontario (ONT), another Charlie. As you can see, there are several delta airports that are underneath the 2700 ft. floor of ONT’s shelf, including Riverside (RAL), Chino (CNO), and Brackett (POC).
When we fly the green course northeast from SNA to CNO without flight following (i.e. without talking to SoCal Approach, our local TRACON), we fly at 3,000 ft., call CNO tower, and then descend below ONT’s shelf by dropping down to 2500 feet before we get there, at around “A.” That makes sense.
I am trying to understand what I must or can do, however, if I was getting traffic advisories from SoCal Approach.
As I understood him, my instructor tells me that IF I was flying the red course eastbound to RAL, at 4000 ft. and while receiving traffic advisories from SoCal approach, I could fly through the Charlie shelf as shown by the red line below and then, after SoCal tells me to contact RAL tower at “B,” I could continue flying in the Charlie even though I am no longer communicating with SoCal (be kind of hard to do otherwise, of course), contact RAL tower and, once radio contact is made with RAL tower, descend down from the Charlie into RAL’s delta.
So, that’s my basis for this question:
Assuming that I’m flying the blue course northbound from SNA to POC at 3,500 ft. and while on flight following with SoCal, and assuming that SoCal tells me to contact POC tower at “C,” can I without busting airspace fly through the edge of the Charlie on my way down to POC’s delta? ...or MUST I duck under the Charlie like the green course because I was handed off to tower, am not communicating with SoCal, and am not currently in the Charlie?
Would the answer be different if I was already in the ONT Charlie when SoCal told me to contact POC tower, so that the blue course situation were more clearly like the red course situation?
Thanks!
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