Alternate same as departure?

Can you file the departure airport as the alternate?

Two airports in the middle of nowhere 40 miles apart. I can't think of
another reasonable option.

dlevy wrote:
Can you file the departure airport as the alternate?

Certainly. Nobody cares or checks on what you've filed anyway. If they did,
there's nothing wrong with having the departure airport as a filed alternate.


Two airports in the middle of nowhere 40 miles apart. I can't think of
another reasonable option.

In article ,
dlevy wrote:
Can you file the departure airport as the alternate?

Two airports in the middle of nowhere 40 miles apart. I can't think of
another reasonable option.

Sure you can file your origin as your alternate. There's no reason
not to. All an alternate means is someplace you've pre-computed you
should (according to specific criteria laid out in part 91) be able to
get into if your destination becomes unusable.

If your goal is to get someplace, turning around and going back home
may not be very useful, but it's certainly legal.

If your goal is to get someplace, turning around and going back home
may not be very useful, but it's certainly legal.

It may be very useful. If you have a "there or nowhere" destination -
meaning if you can't get in there, you might as well never have left
home - and your home is a valid alternate, it makes no sense not to use
it.

Whenever I make a business trip from Houston to Austin when the weather
is iffy in Austin but not in Houston, I file my alternate back in
Houston. If I can't get in at Austin, it does me no good to get in
somewhere 50 miles away with no arrangements for ground transport. I'm
going to miss my meeting anyway, so I might as well turn around and go
home.

Michael

On 7 Dec 2004 12:17:31 -0800, "Michael"
wrote:

Whenever I make a business trip from Houston to Austin when the weather
is iffy in Austin but not in Houston, I file my alternate back in
Houston. If I can't get in at Austin, it does me no good to get in
somewhere 50 miles away with no arrangements for ground transport. I'm
going to miss my meeting anyway, so I might as well turn around and go
home.

Michael


So what difference does it make what your alternate is?

If you want to go back to Houston, you go back to Houston, whether
your alternate is Houston, New Orleans or Hong Kong.

You don't have to go to your alternate if you don't wnat to, ever.

iYou don't have to go to your alternate if you don't wnat to,
ever./i

True. But why bother with working out your actual Plan B, making sure
fuel and weather are going to be OK for it - and then filing something
else? I generally make it a point to file as my alternate what I
really intend to use, unless legalities prevent me from doing so.
Michael

On 7 Dec 2004 14:39:26 -0800, "Michael"
wrote:

iYou don't have to go to your alternate if you don't wnat to,
ever./i

True. But why bother with working out your actual Plan B, making sure
fuel and weather are going to be OK for it - and then filing something
else? I generally make it a point to file as my alternate what I
really intend to use, unless legalities prevent me from doing so.
Michael

You said this:

"Whenever I make a business trip from Houston to Austin when the
weather is iffy in Austin but not in Houston, I file my alternate back
in Houston. If I can't get in at Austin, it does me no good to get in
somewhere 50 miles away with no arrangements for ground transport"


implying that you would be stuck going "fifty miles away" just because
it was filed as an alternate.

This isn't true, and maybe it wasn't what you intended to suggest.
You could go back to Houston regardless.

If you intended to say that it saved the trouble of a separate flight
plan to a different alternate to compute fuel requirements, I agree.

"dlevy" wrote in news:7_0td.36539$Dm2.20820
@bignews1.bellsouth.net:

Can you file the departure airport as the alternate?

Certainly. I do it all the time. As long as it meets the weather
requirements and you have the fuel onboard, you can use it.

--
Regards,

Stan

In a previous article, "dlevy" said:
Can you file the departure airport as the alternate?

I'm pretty sure one of the cross country questions in the IFR "written"
does exactly that.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Simulated editor war, conducted by seasoned professionals in a controlled
environment. Don't try this at home.
-- Christian Bauernfeind

On Mon, 6 Dec 2004 11:54:29 -0600, "dlevy" wrote:

Can you file the departure airport as the alternate?


Does it qualify as an alternate?


Two airports in the middle of nowhere 40 miles apart. I can't think of
another reasonable option.