AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - June 2013 - 26

PILOT COUNSEL

VFR weather minimums:
Part I

BY JOHN S. YODICE

Fundamental to the primary way of avoiding collisions

JOHN S. YODICE

launched the
AOPA Legal
Services Plan (now
Pilot Protection
Services) in 1983
(see “Wind
Beneath Their
Wings,” page 76).

26 | AOPA PILOT June 2013

FEDERAL AVIATION REGULATIONS 91.155 and 91.157 tell
us the minimum weather conditions required for a flight
under visual flight rules (VFR). These rules are fundamental to the primary way pilots avoid collisions—the
see-and-avoid concept—using that indispensable piece
of equipment, the eyeball. These weather minimums,
along with other supplementary rules and procedures
(for example, cruising altitudes, speed limits, right-ofway rules, and flight following), are designed to help
give a vigilant pilot an opportunity to visually detect and
avoid other aircraft in flight. Otherwise, if these VFR
minimums are not met, the flight must be conducted
under the instrument flight rules (IFR), or not at all.
Despite the complexity of these rules, for most
VFR flying below 10,000 feet msl, there is a shortcut to
learning and remembering the minimums. A pilot can
memorize a relatively simple set of “standard” weather
minimums. Then if a pilot observes these standard minimums, he or she automatically will be in compliance
with FAR 91.155. (FAR Part 61 places a couple of additional weather restrictions on student, recreational, and
sport pilots.) I should caution you that the word “standard” is my word that I coined to try to simplify the
rules; it is not a word that appears in the regulations.
It should not be confused with the words “basic” and
“special,” which are terms that do appear in the rules
and which have technical regulatory meaning.
Standard VFR weather minimums are what I will
cover in this column. Next month, I will cover the VFR
weather minimums that are different from “standard,”
the ones that account for the complexity. In only one
case are the minimums more stringent, when in the
airspace above 10,000 feet msl. However, there are several instances where the minimums are less stringent.
The benefit of this method of separating standard from
the other VFR minimums is that a pilot can pick and
choose among the technicalities of the other-than-standard minimums to take advantage of one or more of the
lower (that is, less stringent) weather minimums that
could give more flexibility to his or her flying. If the pilot
doesn’t want or need the less stringent minimums, the
pilot can use the more simple standard ones.
The standard VFR weather minimums relate to
three weather phenomena that are familiar to pilots:
visibility, cloud clearance, and ceiling. Here is what you

need to memorize: The standard visibility minimum is
three statute miles; the standard minimum distance
from clouds is 500 feet below, 1,000 feet above, and
2,000 feet horizontally; the standard ceiling is at least
1,000 feet above the surface.
In addition, here are some important definitions:
Visibility. There is a distinction between ground and
flight visibility. Ground visibility is by definition officially reported ground visibility—“reported by the
United States National Weather Service or an accredited observer.” Where an airport in controlled airspace
officially reports the weather, a pilot operating an aircraft at that airport (taking off, landing, or entering the
traffic pattern) is bound by the reported ground visibility. Otherwise, the controlling visibility minimum is
flight visibility as observed by the pilot from the cockpit, a very subjective observation. A good example is an
aircraft transiting the controlled airspace of an airport,
but not operating at the airport. The pilot is required
to maintain flight visibility of at least three miles but
is not bound by the officially reported ground visibility at the airport.
Ceiling. The ceiling minimum applies only to airports in
controlled airspace, meaning controlled airspace down
to the surface. The ceiling minimum does not apply to
the many airports in Class G (uncontrolled) airspace.
Pilots sometimes misinterpret the visual charts where
an airport is underneath, but not within controlled airspace. The ceiling minimum does not apply to airports
underlying controlled airspace (that is, where the controlled airspace does not go down to the surface). An
aircraft may not operate VFR beneath a reported ceiling when the ceiling is less than 1,000 feet. An aircraft
may be operated VFR above a reported ceiling—“on top,”
as we say—even right over the airport. This is different
for student, recreational, and sport pilots; they may not
operate without visual reference to the surface.
A simple way to be in automatic compliance with
the VFR weather minimums in any airspace below
10,000 feet is to observe the standard weather minimums of three miles visibility; cloud clearance of 500
feet below, 1,000 feet above, and 2,000 feet horizontally;
and a ceiling of at least 1,000 feet.
AOPA
WEB

www.aopa.org/yodiceassociates

http://www.aopa.org/yodiceassociates

AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - June 2013

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