CRAFT Clearances, the Five Letters That Unlock IFR Flying, and How to Copy One Without Missing a Beat

CRAFT stands for Clearance limit, Route, Altitude, Frequency, and Transponder - the five elements that make up every IFR clearance in the U.S. system, issued in that order almost every time. Understanding what each piece means, and how to copy them quickly and accurately, is one of the first and most critical skills an instrument pilot builds. A missed or misunderstood element isn’t just a paperwork problem - it’s a potential traffic conflict or a lost-comm emergency.

What Is a CRAFT Clearance?

Every IFR clearance follows the same five-part structure regardless of the airport, aircraft, or route. The structure is standardized so pilots and controllers share a common language, and so a dense block of information can be written down in roughly thirty seconds and read back accurately. The five elements always arrive in the same sequence: Clearance limit, Route, Altitude, Frequency, and Transponder.

What Is the Clearance Limit?

The clearance limit is where ATC is authorizing you to fly under IFR. In the vast majority of flights, this is the destination airport. ATC says something like “Cleared to Chicago O’Hare International Airport” - that phrase defines the outer boundary of your IFR authorization. You are cleared to operate in IMC up to that point, no further.

In busy terminal environments, controllers sometimes issue a short clearance to an intermediate fix rather than the destination. This happens when the system can’t yet confirm it can integrate the flight all the way without a conflict - ATC is buying airspace coordination time. An amended clearance will come before reaching that fix. Knowing it can happen means staying heads-up and listening.

What Does the Route Section Include?

The route is typically the longest and most complex part of the clearance. It may include a Standard Instrument Departure (SID), specific airways by number, named fixes, direct waypoints, or a Standard Terminal Arrival (STAR) near the destination - or some combination.

The two words pilots most want to hear are “as filed”: the route matches exactly what was submitted in the flight plan, nothing changed. Write AFL on the knee board and move on. But “as filed” only covers the R in CRAFT. Keep the pen moving - altitude, frequency, and squawk are still coming.

A more complex route might sound like: “Via the Denver Three departure, then Victor eight, direct Falcon, then as filed.” Abbreviated on the knee board: DEN3, V8, KFCM, AFL. Airways use their letter-number identifier. Fixes use their five-letter name. Airports use ICAO or three-letter identifiers depending on preference.

What Is the Difference Between Initial Altitude and Expected Altitude?

This is where instrument pilots - especially early in training - make errors that go beyond inconvenience into genuine safety concerns. ATC issues two altitude instructions in most clearances, and they mean very different things.

The initial altitude is the actual clearance right now: “Climb and maintain three thousand.” That’s the limit. Do not climb higher without a new instruction from ATC. Period.

The expected altitude sounds like this: “Expect flight level two four zero ten minutes after departure.” The word “expect” carries enormous weight. This is not a clearance to climb to FL240. It is a planning tool - an indication of what altitude ATC anticipates assigning once the flight checks in with departure.

The expected altitude exists specifically for lost communications. Under FAR Part 91, if radio contact is lost after takeoff, a pilot climbs to the expected altitude at the expected time, because that’s what ATC calculated when building the departure sequence. It gives controllers a mental model of where the aircraft is so they can protect the airspace.

If radio contact is intact, do not climb to the expected altitude until ATC says to. Write EXP separately from the initial altitude on the knee board so they can never be confused with each other. Conflating the two is a documented real-world error - at best, a phone call after landing; at worst, a traffic conflict.

How Do You Use the Departure Frequency?

The departure frequency is given in the clearance so that when tower hands off to departure control - possibly at 500 feet in the clouds - the pilot already knows where to go. ATC says something like: “Departure frequency one two four point four.”

Write it down and set it. Many pilots load the departure frequency into the standby radio as soon as they copy it, making it a one-button press during the climb. Others write it and tune it during the initial climb. Either works. Searching for it while turning crosswind in IMC does not.

At towered airports, the tower controller initiates the handoff. At non-towered airports, departure procedure charts specify when to make the switch.

What Do You Do with the Transponder Code?

The squawk is four digits assigned specifically to your flight. Set it the moment you copy it. Verify Mode C is active and reporting altitude correctly. Do not change that code until ATC issues a new one, you land, or you enter the appropriate VFR code.

What Does a Complete IFR Clearance Sound Like?

Here’s a full example:

“Cessna seven eight niner delta sierra, cleared to Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Via the RNAV departure, then as filed. Climb and maintain three thousand, expect flight level two four zero one zero minutes after departure. Departure frequency one two four point four. Squawk four three two one.”

The readback follows the same order, covering every element, every altitude:

“Cleared to O’Hare. RNAV departure, as filed. Climb and maintain three thousand, expect flight level two four zero one zero minutes after departure. Departure one two four point four. Squawk four three two one. Cessna seven eight niner delta sierra.”

Call sign goes at the end of the readback - standard phraseology that tells ATC exactly which aircraft is responding and gives controllers a window to interrupt if anything is wrong before the readback finishes.

How Do You Copy a Clearance When ATC Is Speaking Fast?

Clearance delivery controllers speak at the pace the job demands. In a busy terminal environment, that’s fast. Copying accurately is a skill that improves with repetition, but certain habits help from day one.

Establish shorthand before calling. Don’t write full words during a clearance. “Climb and maintain” becomes CM. “Expect” becomes EXP. “As filed” becomes AFL. “Via” becomes a slash. “Then” becomes an arrow. A complete clearance should fit on a palm-sized card, legible enough to read back in under thirty seconds.

Stage materials before keying up. The shorthand card goes on top, pen already in hand. There’s no time to reorganize the cockpit mid-clearance.

If something is missed, say so immediately. Do not guess. Do not fill in what it probably was. One call - “Cessna seven eight niner delta sierra, say again departure frequency” - is expected, professional, and completely ordinary. Controllers would rather repeat a frequency than have a pilot depart on the wrong one. Requesting a full re-statement of the clearance is also allowed and legitimate. Use it when needed.

How Does IFR Work at Non-Towered Airports?

At a non-towered airport, a flight plan is still filed and a clearance is still required - but instead of calling a clearance delivery frequency at the airport, pilots typically call a flight service station or a remote clearance delivery frequency listed on the published chart. ATC issues what’s called a void time clearance.

It sounds like this: “Cessna seven eight niner delta sierra, clearance is void if not off by one four three zero zulu. If not off by one four three zero, advise no later than one four three five zulu.”

Two times appear in that transmission. The void time - 1430Z in this example - is the hard deadline. The aircraft must be airborne by that moment. Not taxiing. Airborne. If it isn’t, the clearance expires.

The second time, 1435Z, is the advisory deadline. If departure isn’t going to happen before the void time, ATC must be notified by 1435Z. This is not optional and not a formality.

When ATC issues a void time clearance, it holds the departure corridor - other IFR traffic is routed around it. If the aircraft never departs and ATC is never notified, controllers eventually have no way to confirm the aircraft’s status. After a set window without contact or a landing report, they initiate an overdue aircraft alert, which can trigger search and rescue response. That’s a serious, resource-intensive event.

Set a timer. Know both times before calling for the clearance. If something delays departure, pick up the radio.

What Are Pre-Departure Clearances?

At many larger airports, pilots can receive an IFR clearance as a text message via datalink - through avionics or an app connected to avionics. The clearance arrives on a screen: review the route, enter the squawk code, send an acknowledgment. No verbal readback required.

This reduces transcription errors, frees up the clearance delivery frequency in congested environments, and gives pilots time to sit with the route before engine start. For pilots flying regularly out of major terminals, it’s a meaningful workflow improvement.

But it’s not universal. Smaller airports, non-towered fields, and regional facilities often lack the infrastructure. A pilot accustomed to datalink clearances at a major hub who arrives at a Class D airport in a Cessna 172 is writing by hand. The underlying skill doesn’t disappear because technology sometimes covers for it.

What Do You Say When You Can’t Accept a Clearance?

Sometimes the issued clearance is one that can’t be flown - weather in the assigned airspace the aircraft isn’t equipped for, a departure procedure requiring performance the aircraft can’t meet, or a route requiring RNAV capability the aircraft doesn’t have.

The answer is “unable.”

“Cessna seven eight niner delta sierra, unable RNAV departure due aircraft equipment, request radar vectors.”

Short. Clear. Specific. Controllers handle aircraft capability limitations routinely and have alternatives ready. “Unable” followed by what’s actually needed is a professional, ordinary radio call.

What should never happen is accepting a clearance that can’t be flown, then improvising once in the clouds. That’s how procedural deviations occur. That’s how traffic conflicts get created. If the clearance doesn’t work, say so on the ground - where the conversation is easy and everyone has time to think.

Key Takeaways

• CRAFT - Clearance limit, Route, Altitude, Frequency, Transponder - is the structure of every IFR clearance, issued in that order virtually every time.
• The initial altitude is an actual clearance; the expected altitude is a lost-comm contingency under FAR Part 91. They are never interchangeable.
• “As filed” covers only the Route - keep writing; altitude, frequency, and squawk are still coming.
• At non-towered airports, void time clearances carry two deadlines: the void time itself and the advisory callback window. Missing both without a call can trigger search and rescue.
• “Unable” is always the right call when a clearance can’t be safely flown. Say it on the ground, not after takeoff.