Visual and contact approaches

Two different ATC authorizations that both skip the published approach, with different weather requirements and different responsibilities -- on the real Tipp Toe Visual into San Francisco.

12 min read · Instrument approach systems

After this lesson you can

  • Distinguish a visual approach clearance from a contact approach clearance: who may initiate each, and under what weather.
  • State the weather minimums ATC needs before issuing a visual approach clearance, including the vectored-visual case.
  • Explain who is responsible for obstacle clearance and separation once a pilot reports the airport or preceding traffic in sight.
  • Read a charted visual flight procedure (CVFP) and explain how it differs from an instrument approach procedure.

Not every arrival on an IFR flight plan ends by flying a published instrument approach procedure down to minimums. When the weather is good enough, ATC and pilots have two different ways to leave the published procedure behind and finish the arrival by looking outside: the visual approach and the contact approach. They sound similar, and both keep the flight on its IFR clearance, but they are legally distinct: different weather requirements, different initiation rules, and different responsibilities once issued.

This lesson works through both, then reads a real charted visual flight procedure: Tipp Toe Visual RWY 28L/R into San Francisco International (SFO), a procedure built specifically to route arrivals visually around the bay to intercept the ILS localizer for either runway.

The rest of this lesson

  1. 1.Two ways to leave the published procedure behind
  2. 2.The visual approach: what ATC needs before issuing one
  3. 3.Who is responsible once "cleared for the visual"
  4. 4.The contact approach: pilot-requested only
  5. 5.Visual and contact, side by side
  6. 6.Reading it on the chart: Tipp Toe Visual RWY 28L/R, San Francisco
  7. 7.No missed approach segment: what happens if you cannot continue

These 7 sections, their figures, the checks along the way and the end-of-lesson quiz come with the IFR track. Paid once, yours for good.

See what the IFR track costsEvery module 1 is free to read, no account, no card.

Key terms

Try to recall each definition before turning the card.