4-4-7. Pilot Responsibility upon Clearance Issuance

1. Record ATC clearance. When conducting an IFR operation, make a written record of your clearance. The specified conditions which are a part of your air traffic clearance may be somewhat different from those included in your flight plan. Additionally, ATC may find it necessary to ADD conditions, such as particular departure route. The very fact that ATC specifies different or additional conditions means that other aircraft are involved in the traffic situation.
2. ATC Clearance/Instruction Readback. Pilots of airborne aircraft should read back those parts of ATC clearances and instructions containing altitude assignments, vectors, or runway assignments as a means of mutual verification. The read back of the “numbers" serves as a double check between pilots and controllers and reduces the kinds of communications errors that occur when a number is either “misheard" or is incorrect.
   1. Include the aircraft identification in all readbacks and acknowledgments. This aids controllers in determining that the correct aircraft received the clearance or instruction. The requirement to include aircraft identification in all readbacks and acknowledgements becomes more important as frequency congestion increases and when aircraft with similar call signs are on the same frequency.
   2. Read back altitudes, altitude restrictions, and vectors in the same sequence as they are given in the clearance or instruction.
   3. Altitudes contained in charted procedures, such as DPs, instrument approaches, etc., should not be read back unless they are specifically stated by the controller.
   4. Initial read back of a taxi, departure or landing clearance should include the runway assignment, including left, right, center, etc. if applicable.
3. It is the responsibility of the pilot to accept or refuse the clearance issued.

4-4-8. IFR Clearance VFR-on-top

1. A pilot on an IFR flight plan operating in VFR weather conditions, may request VFR-on-top in lieu of an assigned altitude. This permits a pilot to select an altitude or flight level of their choice (subject to any ATC restrictions.)
2. Pilots desiring to climb through a cloud, haze, smoke, or other meteorological formation and then either cancel their IFR flight plan or operate VFR‐on‐top may request a climb to VFR‐on‐top. The ATC authorization must contain either a top report or a statement that no top report is available, and a request to report reaching VFR‐on‐top. Additionally, the ATC authorization may contain a clearance limit, routing and an alternative clearance if VFR-on-top is not reached by a specified altitude.
3. A pilot on an IFR flight plan, operating in VFR conditions, may request to climb/descend in VFR conditions.
4. ATC may not authorize VFR-on-top/VFR conditions operations unless the pilot requests the VFR operation or a clearance to operate in VFR conditions will result in noise abatement benefits where part of the IFR departure route does not conform to an FAA approved noise abatement route or altitude.
5. When operating in VFR conditions with an ATC authorization to “maintain VFR-on-top/maintain VFR conditions” pilots on IFR flight plans must:
   1. Fly at the appropriate VFR altitude as prescribed in 14 CFR section 91.159.
   2. Comply with the VFR visibility and distance from cloud criteria in 14 CFR section 91.155 (Basic VFR Weather Minimums).
   3. Comply with instrument flight rules that are applicable to this flight; i.e., minimum IFR altitudes, position reporting, radio communications, course to be flown, adherence to ATC clearance, etc.
6. ATC authorization to “maintain VFR-on-top” is not intended to restrict pilots so that they must operate only above an obscuring meteorological formation (layer). Instead, it permits operation above, below, between layers, or in areas where there is no meteorological obscuration. It is imperative, however, that pilots understand that clearance to operate “VFR-on-top/VFR conditions” does not imply cancellation of the IFR flight plan.
7. Pilots operating VFR-on-top/VFR conditions may receive traffic information from ATC on other pertinent IFR or VFR aircraft. However, aircraft operating in Class B airspace/TRSAs must be separated as required by FAA Order JO 7110.65, Air Traffic Control.
8. ATC will not authorize VFR or VFR-on-top operations in Class A airspace.