Getting a VFR Departure Clearance from Clearance Delivery

Some towered fields want VFR aircraft to call Clearance Delivery before taxi. It sounds intimidating, but the request is short and the readback follows a predictable template. · 6 min read

At most small towered airports a VFR departure is simple: you call Ground, ask to taxi, and go. But at busier fields — Class C, Class B, and some high-volume Class D airports — VFR departures are handled more like IFR ones. You call Clearance Delivery first and get a discrete transponder code (a “squawk”) plus initial departure instructions before you ever taxi. The first time you hear about it, it sounds like a big-airplane thing you are not ready for. It is not. The request is short, and what comes back follows a predictable pattern you can read straight off a template.

How to know if you need it

Listen to the ATIS. At fields that use it, the ATIS will say something like “VFR departures contact Clearance Delivery on 121.85 for your squawk.” If the ATIS says nothing about it, you almost certainly just call Ground with your normal taxi request. When you are unsure, calling Ground is always a safe default — if you need Clearance, they will send you there.

The request

Tell them who you are, that you are VFR, where you are going (or which direction), that you want to depart, and that you have the current ATIS:

🎙 You say “Santa Ana Clearance, Skyhawk Five-Two-Kilo, VFR to Riverside, request departure, with Information Bravo.”

Who you are · VFR · destination or direction · request · ATIS code.

What you get back — and read back

The clearance usually contains an initial heading (or “runway heading”), an altitude restriction to keep you under overlying traffic, a departure frequency, and your squawk code. Read it back with the same discipline you would give an IFR clearance — the squawk and any heading or altitude restriction are the safety-critical parts:

📻 ATC says “Five-Two-Kilo, on departure fly runway heading, maintain VFR at or below two thousand five hundred, departure frequency one-two-six point zero, squawk zero-four-one-seven.”

🎙 You say “Runway heading, VFR at or below two thousand five hundred, departure one-two-six point zero, squawk zero-four-one-seven, Five-Two-Kilo.”

Then taxi as normal

Set the squawk in your transponder, then contact Ground for taxi just like anywhere else. Because you already have your code and instructions, the departure itself is smooth — Tower launches you, and you contact the departure frequency when told.

💡 If you dial up Clearance and it turns out the field does not use it for VFR, no harm done — they will just tell you to contact Ground. You will never get in trouble for asking the wrong controller a polite, correct question.

💡 The only way this becomes automatic is saying it out loud, dozens of times, before you key a live mic. That is exactly what ATCpal is for — practice the VFR clearance-delivery request and reading back your squawk and departure instructions. Practice it free at atcpal.app.

Practice this call out loud — free

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