to depart and pick up a clearance, or to
cancel IFR at or before the final landing phase.
But there's a happy medium: Don't
cancel IFR until conditions allow, even if there's someone waiting behind you.
These technical problems do not affect VFR traffic, which finds its own way, but they delay or
cancel IFR flights, including all airline flights.
This strategy proved useful because, one-and-a-half hours into the flight, the weather looked good enough to
cancel IFR. We contacted Dash 1 to get their thoughts about the weather and its location.
With the weather and situation as described, and if I were as smart about the regs as Tarrance is, I would go over to Tower as I had been told, give a brief position report (10 miles north for landing) and then "
cancel IFR." Then, I'm in visual conditions, not under IFR, talking with Tower, so no approach clearance required.
In the meantime, I'll have to settle for some well-done vectoring from the local Tracon and hope the weather is good enough to not only allow me to spot the runway from the MVA but also
cancel IFR without violating the visibility and cloud-clearance rules for Class E airspace.
I knew we could
cancel IFR, continue VFR, and position the aircraft to land.
Until you land, declare a missed approach, or
cancel IFR, the airport is all yours.
Okay, on to the next option: How about fly DEEDS to The Florida Keys Marathon International on the east side of the archipelago, then
cancel IFR and take a scenic flight to Key West?
And remember: As long as the weather's decent, using the phrase "
cancel IFR" opens up a whole range of opportunities when ATC won't cooperate.
If you are approaching your destination airport and do not want to be vectored for a visual, you can
cancel IFR and request to remain on flight following until you switch to tower or CTAF.
Breaking out on the GPS final, you
cancel IFR and switch over to the CTAF to announce your straight-in approach, only to look up to see a Skyhawk-filled windshield.