What is ATIS and why do pilots check it before an instrument arrival?

ATIS, the Automatic Terminal Information Service, is a continuous broadcast of recorded non-control airport information including the active runway, current weather, instrument approaches in use, and any pertinent NOTAMs. Pilots are expected to obtain the current ATIS before contacting approach control so they can build an accurate arrival briefing that matches actual field conditions. The AIM states that pilots should monitor ATIS as early as possible during descent to allow adequate time to brief the expected approach.

How does ATIS information influence which runway and approach type are used during an IFR arrival?

The ATIS broadcast identifies the runway in use and the approach type currently being conducted at the airport, which directly determines which instrument approach procedure you will brief and fly. For example, if ATIS reports low ceilings and reduced visibility, a precision ILS approach may be in use instead of a visual approach, affecting your weather minimums and decision altitude. According to the Instrument Flying Handbook, aligning your approach briefing with the ATIS-reported conditions ensures your selected minimums, missed approach point, and runway environment expectations are all appropriate for the actual environment.

What's the difference between using ATIS versus just asking approach control for the active runway?

ATIS provides a comprehensive package of information — weather, altimeter setting, NOTAMs, approach in use, and more — in a single self-service broadcast that pilots can receive before initial radio contact, reducing controller workload. Asking approach control directly for only the active runway gives you limited information and occupies a frequency that should be reserved for separation and traffic advisories. The AIM encourages pilots to obtain ATIS prior to initial contact with approach control and to advise the controller of the ATIS identifier received, confirming mutual situational awareness.

Arrival Runway Selection and How ATIS Influences Approach Briefing

When you are inbound to an airport on an IFR flight plan, one of the most consequential tasks you will perform before crossing the final approach fix is building a complete, accurate arrival briefing. At the center of that briefing sits the Automatic Terminal Information Service — ATIS. ATIS is a recorded broadcast of essential aerodrome information that is updated upon receipt of any official hourly weather (regardless of whether the content has changed) and is reissued whenever there is a change in other pertinent data, such as a runway change, a ceiling or visibility change, or equipment status, and it is the primary source instrument pilots use to determine which runway is in use, what approach to expect, and whether the weather actually supports the planned approach. Understanding how ATIS fits into your arrival briefing workflow is not just an exam topic — it directly affects every decision from top-of-descent to touchdown.

This article walks through how controllers and pilots use ATIS to select the landing runway, how that selection drives approach planning, and exactly what elements of the ATIS broadcast must be incorporated into a thorough approach briefing. Throughout, we anchor every concept to FAA guidance found in the Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15), the Instrument Procedures Handbook (FAA-H-8083-16), the Aeronautical Information Manual, and the relevant provisions of 14 CFR.

What ATIS Contains and Why It Comes First

The Aeronautical Information Manual describes ATIS as a continuous broadcast of recorded non-control information in high-activity terminal areas. A standard ATIS message includes the airport identifier, the phonetic alphabet information code (e.g., "Information Kilo"), the time of observation, the type of approach or approaches in use, the runway or runways in use, field conditions if pertinent, the surface wind direction and speed including significant gusts, the visibility, weather phenomena, sky condition, temperature, dew point, altimeter setting, and any NOTAMs or other operational remarks the controller chooses to include.

Pilots are expected to copy ATIS before contacting approach control. The AIM makes clear that when you check in with approach, you should report having the current ATIS information by its code letter: "Cherokee 4567X, ten miles southeast, six thousand, Information Kilo." This one transmission tells the controller you already know the active runway, the altimeter, and the approach in use — it reduces frequency congestion and signals that you are prepared for the arrival.

The altimeter setting deserves special emphasis. The correct altimeter setting is what makes every altitude on the approach chart meaningful. If you set the wrong pressure, your decision altitude (DA) or minimum descent altitude (MDA) will not correspond to the actual height above the runway threshold, which is a direct safety hazard. Under 14 CFR 91.121, pilots must set the current reported altimeter when operating below 18,000 feet MSL. The ATIS-provided altimeter is the one to use.

Arrival Runway Selection: How It Really Works

Runway selection at towered airports is ultimately the controller's authority, but it is almost always driven by the reported wind. Air traffic controllers prefer to land aircraft into the wind because a headwind reduces groundspeed over the threshold, shortens the landing roll, and improves aircraft performance. Most airports have a designated calm wind runway — a default runway used when winds are light and variable — published in the Chart Supplement (formerly the Airport/Facility Directory).

When winds are significant, the controller uses the wind direction and speed reported in the ATIS to assign the most favorable runway. The ATIS broadcast will state the runway "in use" explicitly. For instrument operations, this matters because not every runway at every airport has an instrument approach procedure. If Runway 28 is the only runway with an ILS, but the wind is favoring Runway 10, the controller still has the option of assigning Runway 28 for an ILS approach, accepting a slight tailwind component, or assigning Runway 10 with a visual approach once the pilot has the airport in sight. Pilots should not assume they will always receive the runway with the best instrument approach; runway assignment depends on traffic, wind, and other operational factors.

At non-towered airports with automated weather (AWOS or ASOS), the pilot selects the runway based on the wind report and common traffic advisory procedures. The current automated weather also provides the altimeter and sky condition needed to determine whether an instrument approach is necessary and which procedure is appropriate.

Building the Approach Briefing from ATIS Data

The approach briefing is the systematic review of the instrument approach procedure chart completed before reaching the initial approach fix (IAF). The Instrument Flying Handbook describes this briefing as essential to crew resource management and situational awareness. Even as a single pilot, talking yourself through the approach — or using a structured checklist — dramatically reduces the likelihood of a critical omission under workload.

Here is how each element of ATIS feeds into the briefing:

Runway in use → Approach type and chart selection: Once you know the active runway, you pull the correct approach chart. Runway 28L might have an ILS, an RNAV (GPS), and a VOR approach — three separate charts with different minimums. You select the one appropriate to your avionics, currency, and the current weather.
Ceiling and visibility → Approach category and minimums check: Compare the ATIS-reported ceiling and visibility to the minimums on the selected approach chart. If the ceiling is 400 feet and the ILS DA is 200 feet HAT (height above touchdown), the approach is viable. If the visibility is at or below the charted minimums, you must plan for the possibility of a missed approach before you even begin the approach.
Altimeter setting → All altitude compliance: Set the altimeter and verify it on the chart. The approach chart's procedure altitude, FAF altitude, DA/MDA, and missed approach altitudes are all referenced to this setting.
Wind direction and speed → Final approach drift correction and go-around planning: A crosswind on final means you will need a crab or slip. A significant tailwind on final is a red flag — check the tailwind component against your aircraft's AFM limitations, since tailwind limits for instrument approaches are aircraft-specific rather than a single generalized value, and prudent pilots always verify the applicable limit before accepting a tailwind runway.
NOTAMs in the ATIS → Procedure modifications: ATIS sometimes includes NOTAMs about inoperative components — a glide slope out of service, a localizer off-frequency, or approach lighting equipment that is out of service. Each of these changes your applicable minimums. The Instrument Procedures Handbook explains how inoperative components raise minimums per the chart's inoperative component table or the applicable NOTAM.
Temperature → Cold weather altimetry: At very low temperatures, indicated altitudes are higher than true altitudes. Cold temperature corrections are required at designated Cold Temperature Restricted Airports (CTAs) under 14 CFR 97.20 when the reported temperature is at or below the airport's published threshold, and are recommended at other airports using the AIM/TERPS cold temperature correction table to ensure obstacle clearance. The ATIS temperature reading is your trigger to check whether corrections are needed.

Approach Briefing Structure: What to Cover

A complete approach briefing typically covers the following items in order, cross-checked against the approach chart:

Approach name and runway: "ILS Runway 28L, Sierra Nevada Regional."
Weather and minimums comparison: State the reported ceiling and visibility; confirm they meet or exceed minimums.
Frequencies: Localizer frequency (set and identified), glideslope, approach control, tower, and missed approach frequencies.
Inbound course: The final approach course in degrees magnetic.
Key altitudes: IAF altitude, FAF crossing altitude, DA or MDA, and missed approach altitude.
Missed approach procedure: Verbalize the published missed approach — "Climb to 3,000, then climbing right turn to 5,000 via the XYZ VOR." Know it before you need it.
Field and lighting: Confirm expected visual references at DA — runway lights, PAPI, VASI — especially in low visibility.
Alternates and fuel: Confirm you have alternate minimums and required fuel if a missed approach leads to the alternate.

Why It Matters: Safety and Regulatory Compliance

Failing to integrate ATIS data fully into the approach briefing is one of the most common root causes of approach accidents analyzed by the NTSB. Pilots have descended below MDA because they misread the altimeter setting. Pilots have continued approaches in weather below minimums because they copied an old ATIS. Pilots have been surprised by a missed approach because they never verbalized the procedure during the briefing. The approach briefing is not a formality — it is a cognitive rehearsal that primes your memory and channels your attention to the right cues at the right altitudes.

From a regulatory standpoint, 14 CFR 91.175 governs operations below DA/MDA and the visual references required before descending to the runway. The approach briefing is how you determine, before the approach even begins, whether those references are likely to be available given the reported weather.

Key Numbers and Rules

ATIS is updated on receipt of each official hourly weather observation, and a new broadcast is issued whenever there is a significant change such as a runway change, ceiling/visibility change, or equipment status change (AIM Chapter 4).
Altimeter setting required below 18,000 feet MSL per 14 CFR 91.121.
Pilots must have current ATIS before contacting approach control; report the ATIS code on initial call (AIM 4-1-13).
A very common Category I ILS minimum is a 200-foot HAT DA with 1/2-statute-mile (or RVR 1,800) visibility, but there is no single "standard" minimum for all Cat I ILS approaches — minimums vary by procedure design, obstacles, and equipment, so you must always verify the actual charted minimums for the specific procedure.
If the ATIS reports weather below landing minimums, an instrument pilot may still fly the approach but must be prepared to execute the published missed approach if the required visual references are not acquired by DA/MDA (14 CFR 91.175).
Cold temperature altitude corrections are mandatory at designated Cold Temperature Restricted Airports (CTAs) per 14 CFR 97.20 when the reported temperature is at or below the airport's published threshold, and are recommended elsewhere using the AIM cold temperature correction table for the altitude concerned.

Common Test Traps

Old ATIS information: The exam may describe a scenario where the pilot has Information Juliet but Information Kilo is current. Minimums or the approach in use may have changed. Always use the most recent ATIS — identified by the latest sequential phonetic letter.
Confusing DA and MDA: A DA (used on precision and APV approaches such as ILS and RNAV LPV) is the altitude at which you must immediately execute a missed approach if the required visual references are not in sight. An MDA (used on non-precision approaches) is a floor you must not descend below unless visual references exist. These have different regulatory implications under 14 CFR 91.175.
Assuming the approach in use matches the best instrument approach: Controllers assign runways based on wind and traffic, not approach type. Be ready to fly a localizer-only, RNAV, or visual approach instead of the full ILS if that is what you are assigned.
Ignoring the inoperative components note: When ATIS mentions a component outage (e.g., "glide slope out of service Runway 28L"), minimums automatically increase per the inoperative components table on the chart. Forgetting to apply this is a common error that could result in flying an unauthorized approach.
Skipping the missed approach in the briefing: Test questions frequently probe whether pilots have briefed the missed approach procedure. If you cannot recite it, you have not completed the briefing — and the FAA examiner or knowledge test will expose that gap.