When on an IFR flight plan, do you have to contact ATC to change to the appropriate MEA?

Question

Lets say you are heading east on a heading of 090 and the MEA for the airway you are on is 5000ft. Your next leg will be a heading of 350, and the MEA is 8000 ft. As the FAR's state, after you cross the navaid, you should then begin your climb to the next MEA. The question is tho, is do you just climb to that MEA without calling ATC or do you have to "request" that altitude from ATC.

Also, another quick question along the similar lines. If you were on an easterly heading for your initial departure leg, and your next leg will be on a northwestern heading, would you file an altitude appropriate for 0-179 or 180-359? I have always just filed the initial legs appropriate altitude for the track. Also, similar to the first question, would you call ATC when you need to change your altitude due to your heading or do you just do it?

Thanks much!

? · Accepted Answer

The MEA is the Minimum Enroute Altitude, so it is only the lowest altitude on that portion of the victor airway that will guarantee clearance from any obstacles as well as usable navigation signal (VOR, NDB, ADF). When you do your IFR flight plan, you should always file the highest altitude in which you will be flying for that flight. Therefore in this example, file 8,000ft or above. That way when you reach the intersection that has a higher MEA, you should already be at altitude and not have to climb or descend. Then for any altitude changes, contact ATC prior to climbing or descending for clearance.

For the second part, I have always just done the initial leg as the altitude to file. However if your trip direction is all west, but you start out going east then file for a westerly altitude. ATC will make changes as they deem necessary to the IFR flight plan. So what you file may not even be what you eventually fly for the trip.

Techwing · Answer

You request the altitude. However, ATC is usually aware of the MEA and will have you climb to an appropriate altitude before you reach the new MEA.

In the highly unlikely event that ATC does not spontaneously give you a climb and refuses your request for one, legally you must climb anyway to your minimum IFR altitude, and advise ATC of what you've done; you could declare an emergency for extra coverage. The justification for this is that you might hit something if you remain below your minimum IFR altitude (but keep in mind that the MEA is not always the minimum altitude). This is all very hypothetical, of course.

Otherwise, once you've been assigned an altitude by ATC, you stay with it until ATC changes it, at least with respect to the usual 0-179/180-359 altitude rules. If you are VFR, you simply change your altitude as appropriate. If you are VFR under ATC control (as with a clearance through a Class B), and you've been assigned an altitude, stay with it until ATC changes it or returns you to appropriate VFR altitudes. If you are VFR under ATC control but no altitude restriction has been given, altitude is at your discretion following the usual rules. If you leave the controlled airspace with an altitude restriction under VFR (as when existing a Class B), the altitude restriction disappears and you can resume normal VFR altitudes.

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When on an IFR flight plan, do you have to contact ATC to change to the appropriate MEA?

2 Answers