The FAA has collaborated with industry partners to develop and test a new feature for mobile applications that allows for general aviation pilots to request departure clearance from an airport without needing to directly contact the tower.

What is Mobile Clearance?

• General aviation pilots already use third-party aviation applications to assist with flight planning, navigation, and tracking weather. Now they will also be able to use select applications to request departure from air traffic control (ATC) with the push of a button.
• For reference, more than half of the 44,000 requests to depart an airport runway using Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) are done so verbally by pilots who contact the air traffic control tower directly via radio.
• Switching to a digital, text-based system reduces the risk for readback error and provides more situational awareness for controllers to focus on safety.
• Mobile Clearance mimics the Pre-Departure Clearance (PDC) capability in Tower Data Link Services (TDLS) currently used by commercial airlines, meaning air traffic controllers are already familiar with the system.
• Mobile Clearance also allows for pilots to cancel IFR from their flight service apps, allowing pilots to seamlessly switch to Visual Flight Rules (VFR) while freeing up the airspace for controllers to focus on aircraft separation.
• As operational evaluation continues at select locations, Mobile Clearance will be deployed to airports throughout the U.S. in 2027.

Coming to an Airport Near You

Discover which airports currently provide Mobile Clearance and which airports are gaining the feature in the near future.

The FAA’s Role

The FAA began collaborating with MITRE in 2016 to mature the Mobile Clearance concept and help develop the software. In 2024, the FAA began simulation testing with pilots and air traffic controllers at the NAS Innovation and Emerging Concepts (NIEC) Lab at the William J. Hughes Technical Center.

In May 2026, an operational evaluation for Mobile Clearance began at Houston, TX, area airports, and in the summer expanded to Appleton International Airport (ATW) and New Century AirCenter (IXD). During these evaluation periods, participating pilots were able to request IFR departure clearances from select Houston-area airports via flight plan service provider applications, such as ForeFlight and Garmin.

In early Fall 2026, operational evaluation will expand to Kansas City, MO, and Austin, TX, area airports. Additionally, a feature of Mobile Clearance allowing pilots to cancel IFR clearances from their flight service applications will be available in Houston-area airspace.

The FAA plans to end evaluation in early 2027 and transition to deployment of the final product.