April Showers Bring an AIM Revision

Instrument Departure Procedures -– Paragraphs 5-2-8. The revisions start on page 5-2-9 and these are important. They include the AIM version of the new Climb Via procedures plus some much needed clarification of what’s going on when ATC vectors us off of a published DP/SID. Based on reviews of pilot-ATC communications since the Climb Via rollout on April 3, we all need to spend some more time getting up to speed with these procedures.

Arrival Procedures – Paragraph (and page) 5-4-1. The Descend Via procedures are in here. Not a lot of major change; mainly clarifications and examples.

Instrument Approach Procedure Charts – Paragraph 5-4-5 (page 5-4-8). The Explanation of Changes text for this one needs an explanation, so skip the summary and head to page 5-4-8. This revision is about charting differences between an Intermediate Fix (IF) and an Initial Approach Fix (IAF). The revision is not particularly clarifying however, so stay out of trouble by relying on the 5-letter name. We could see a revision to the revision on this one.

PRM Approaches – Paragraph 5-4-16. If you are not flying these you can skip this section, but if you are, you will definitely need to toggle down to page 5-4-42, as the addition of RNAV/GLS as a form of PRM has now appeared, and not just temporarily at SFO. As at SFO, the RNAV/GLS is an alternative to the ILS.

That’s it for the AIM revision. Fly safe.