STARs: standard arrivals

Transitions, crossing restrictions, and the "descend via" clearance, read off the real ROBUC3 and CAMRN5 arrivals.

15 min read · Charts and procedures

After this lesson you can

  • Explain what a Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR) is for and why a pilot must have it on board and briefed before using it.
  • Read a block altitude restriction, a single hard altitude, and a speed restriction as they are printed on a real STAR.
  • Explain what a "descend via" clearance authorizes a pilot to do, and what it does not authorize.
  • Tell the difference between a charted crossing restriction and printed "expect" planning information on a vectored arrival.

A Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR) is the departure procedure's mirror image: instead of climbing out of a busy terminal area, it brings a flight in, merging traffic from many directions onto a manageable number of paths. Like a SID, it exists mainly to organize traffic and reduce radio chatter, and like a SID, every altitude and speed printed on it can become part of the pilot's clearance.

This lesson reads two real arrivals: the ROBUC THREE into Boston, an RNAV STAR with multiple named transitions and printed crossing restrictions, and the CAMRN FIVE into New York Kennedy, which shows the difference between a hard restriction and mere planning information on a vectored arrival.

The rest of this lesson

  1. 1.One STAR, several ways in: transitions
  2. 2.Reading a crossing restriction: block, hard, and speed
  3. 3.What "descend via" actually authorizes
  4. 4.A vectored arrival: CAMRN FIVE into Kennedy
  5. 5."Expect" is not a clearance

These 5 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.