Clearing the Area & Calling "Clear Left", "Clear Right"

DeltaAVL

DeltaAVL

New Member
I've flown with six instructors throughout my PPL training thus far.. and I was just assigned a new primary instructor. He's been strongly emphasizing the need to "clear the area" before any sort of turn (even in the pattern) and vocalizing "clear left" or "clear right".

The only reason I question this is because none of the other instructors have even mentioned it. Is it standard protocol, is it necessary, and is it going to be a requirement on the checkride?

Not trying to dispute my CFI's instruction, just trying to clear things up. Thanks.
 
DeltaAVL said:
I've flown with six instructors throughout my PPL training thus far.. and I was just assigned a new primary instructor. He's been strongly emphasizing the need to "clear the area" before any sort of turn (even in the pattern) and vocalizing "clear left" or "clear right".

The only reason I question this is because none of the other instructors have even mentioned this. Is it standard protocol, is it necessary, and is it going to be a requirement on the checkride?

Not trying to dispute my CFI's instruction, just trying to clear things up. Thanks.
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It's a good habit to have. In a high traffic environment I'll still do it in the jet.
 
Clearing the area before you start a turn is very important....especially in the pattern. If you're finding it unusual that he want's you to vocalize that action, think of it this way; by speaking it, you're reinforcing what you're doing. Like verbalizing the checklist as you do it. Just remember to really look and call out any traffic you see. You may see one he didn't.
 
It's a good idea to "Clear" the turn. Can't hurt plus it lets your instructor or examiner know that your visually scanning. I would expect it of my students.

My pet peeve even at the airline is that nobody looks outside ever. Eyes are glued to a 6x6 inch square followed by manipulations to maintain speed +/- 2 knots followed by incessant acars-ing to find out the latest atis at the field that is sever clear. It'll take the next mid-air for people to start scanning.
 
How many of us have done this in the car when sitting as a passenger and the driver is about to pull out?? :o
 
I do it in the car, and I teach it in the airplane. It's saved my bacon more than once.

Ive flown with 15yr airline Captains that do it. So it is a great habit to embrace.
 
I second (or third) that its a good habit to get into. To reinforce the idea that your CFI isn't just emphasizing irrelevant crap: when the CA is making a tight right turn into the gate, even if my head was looking to the right, if I forgot to say "clear right" virtually every CA would ask "are we clear?" Not exactly a maneuver, but important nonetheless :)
 
darrenf said:
How many of us have done this in the car when sitting as a passenger and the driver is about to pull out?? :o
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YES! After a 4-day its habit... Luckily most of my friends are also pilots, and my wife...well... she just rolls her eyes.




FWIW I still call clear left/right in the jet and most others do as well. I know there has been a few times that we have either had to stop or question ground on "who goes first". Great habit to have.
 
I know of two people that failed checkrides for not clearing before maneuvers.

I teach that you do clearing turns as you set up for the maneuver;while getting your airplane trimmed you take a quick clearing turn to both sides, run your pre maneuver checklist, verbalize clear left and right, then start the maneuver.
 
DeltaAVL said:
I've flown with six instructors throughout my PPL training thus far.. and I was just assigned a new primary instructor. He's been strongly emphasizing the need to "clear the area" before any sort of turn (even in the pattern) and vocalizing "clear left" or "clear right".
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At Colgan we go into uncontrolled airports, so clearing the area is a big thing. You do it all through your pilot career. At the airlines its more evident on the ground, but sometimes in the air.

Just remember that at this point in your learning, your CFI needs to make sure you are doing the things you are taught. Some of the things we can only be sure your doing if you say it out loud. You may do it, but your instructor might not realize it. This goes for many things you do as a student pilot.
 
DeltaAVL said:
I've flown with six instructors throughout my PPL training thus far.. and I was just assigned a new primary instructor. He's been strongly emphasizing the need to "clear the area" before any sort of turn (even in the pattern) and vocalizing "clear left" or "clear right".

The only reason I question this is because none of the other instructors have even mentioned this. Is it standard protocol, is it necessary, and is it going to be a requirement on the checkride?

Not trying to dispute my CFI's instruction, just trying to clear things up. Thanks.
Click to expand...

6 instructors is excessive but then we don't know the specifics of your training. On private pilot training, not clearing the turns is just enough to cause the examiner to fail you. In fact try to do everything you can on the checkride looking outside, even the steep turns and such. That will really impress them. In my opinion it's much better to actually spend a few seconds looking outside rather than just saying "clear" but never actually looking for more than a split second. And yes, during your training you are supposed to say clear right or left.
 
Just happened the other day, was driving in a car with a friend and we stopped at a light:

Him: Clear left.
Me, glancing out the right and without thinking: Clear right
....
...
Me: You bastard.
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I like to do it with all my students, verbalizing and actually doing it, because for one, it lets the student know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. Two, if you do it on your checkride, not only will you be in the examiner's good graces because you're trying to protect him from any near-misses, but you are also showing some responsibility in the air for being wary of other traffic.
 
I will agree with others, the verbalization is a good idea. In crew airplanes, it helps out with the situational awareness and after a few times doing it, it becomes habit...a pretty good one I think.

Clearing before a maneuver is also good so that other airplanes in the area may notice you wing movements up and down as opposed flying straight and level and besides, the DPEs REALLY like it.
 
Yes it's a great idea, but a word of warning: be sure to ACTUALLY LOOK. Don't get into pre-programmed reponses; we are all susceptible to this. This occurs for example, when flaps are selected up and you say "flaps up" without looking at the indicator to ensure the flaps ACTUALLY retracted.

So when you say "clear left/right" don't get into the trap of saying it without actually performing a scan; that's a very dangerous thing to do.
 
Listen to what everyone here says. It's an extremely important thing to do from now until you retire. It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure that in the PTS, clearing the area is listed under every maneuver. Verbalizing while you're doing it is a very good habit to develop, especially when you start flying in the crew environment.
 
bdhill1979 said:
I know of two people that failed checkrides for not clearing before maneuvers.
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The OP should know that you can't fail for not verbalizing, but only for not turning the plane to clear the area prior to a maneuver.

I have never taught verbalizing it before, probably because it was never part of my training. I can see however, if you plan to say it you will actually stick your head out and look for traffic that isn't in the immediately viewable portion screen. It is not a bad habit to have.

on a funny note:

One of my fellow flight instructors did his training at Flight Safety and it always gave me and my old girl friend a good laugh when he would do, "clear left, clear right, clear center" before he would move the airplane from parking. Until then I had never heard anybody verbalize the "clear", so it was pretty funny to us because that was the only portion of the flight he ever said it.
 
You'll learn alot of "techniques" in your training. Verbalizing "clear left/clear right" is one of them your CFI may emphasize and it's a very good habit to get into. In fact, it's expected in the plane I fly. Use all the tools available to you, primarily your own two eyes, any other sets of eyes available to you, ATC radar, clearing via radio, and TCAS if you have it. The skies are only getting more crowded, and it doesn't take long from the time your eyes can pick out another aircraft to the time that target becomes a collision hazard.
 
Sounds like there's a consensus - can't go wrong with verbalizing the clear. Thanks for the quick answers.

bdhill1979 said:
I teach that you do clearing turns as you set up for the maneuver;while getting your airplane trimmed you take a quick clearing turn to both sides, run your pre maneuver checklist, verbalize clear left and right, then start the maneuver.
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Here's another bit of befuddlement for me - clearing TURNS. Before maneuvers, my CFI sometimes makes me do 180 degree turns to the left and right to make sure we're clear (different than just clearing left and right). Is that what you're talking about? Are they even two seperate things or am I just confusing myself by trying to break one procedure into two?
 
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