Plain English Meaning

ATC's preferred way out of an airport when you're heading to a particular destination. Instead of you picking the route, the controllers have already worked out the best path for that city pair, and that's what they'll clear you to fly.

Full Definition

A specific departure route established by Air Traffic Control between certain airport pairs to organize and standardize the flow of departing IFR traffic. A PDR is a non-published route that ATC assigns when issuing a clearance, used to keep departures separated from arrivals and other traffic flows in busy airspace.

Context Anchor

You may see PDRs during instrument departure planning or receive one in an .