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Clearance Beyond Fix

JO 7110.65BB, Change 3, effective July 9, 2026 · Official text on faa.gov

If no delay is expected, issue a clearance beyond the clearance limit as soon as possible and, whenever possible, at least 5 minutes before the aircraft reaches the fix.
Include the following items when issuing clearance beyond a clearance limit:
1. Clearance limit or approach clearance.
2. Route of flight. Specify one of the following:
  1. Complete details of the route (airway, route, course, fix(es), azimuth course, heading, arc, or vector.)
  2. The phrase “via last routing cleared.” Use this phrase only when the most recently issued routing to the new clearance limit is valid and verbiage will be reduced.
    Phraseology
    
    VIA LAST ROUTING CLEARED.
3. Assigned altitude if different from present altitude.
  Note
  
  Except in the event of a two‐way communications failure, when a clearance beyond a fix has not been received, pilots are expected to hold as depicted on U.S. Government or commercially produced (meeting FAA requirements) low/high altitude en route and area or STAR charts. If no holding pattern is charted and holding instructions have not been issued, pilots should ask ATC for holding instructions prior to reaching the fix. If a pilot is unable to obtain holding instructions prior to reaching the fix, the pilot is expected to hold in a standard pattern on the course on which the aircraft approached the fix and request further clearance as soon as possible.

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