Day VFR
Hi everyone !
With the weather having played a part deciding when and when I can fly I thought I would take the chance whilst on the ground to explain what “Day VFR” means.
For all the pilots out there following along you are welcome to tune out now as I’m sure you all know this (or follow along for fun)!
VFR (Visual Flight Rules) as its name suggests are the hard set rules that a pilot with a standard Private License (like me!) has to fly by, just like the road rules. The Visual Flight Rules cover a lot of different things from planning, flying, communications, emergencies and much more. I won’t go into all the details - if you really want to know more CASA has a 3 hour exam you can sit!
Here’s an explanation of the rules which relate to the meteorological side of flight. Every morning before I fly, my team and I look at the weather and decide if the planned flight can be completed in a way that is safe, legal and satisfies self-imposed minimums and analysis of my skills. If not, then we either change the plan, or don’t fly.
Before we get into it, I’ve had a few people ask why I, an Australian, use feet rather than metres when it comes to talking about height. To answer, it is internationally standardised and what has been always used.
Weather Forecast
It sounds quite obvious but I legally must have a forecast for where I am leaving from, the route I am taking and, for the destination. I can’t just fly blindly off not knowing what’s coming. Fortunately with the way technology is now that is relatively easy to get.
For individual aerodromes, the forecast and NOTAMS (specific warnings) can be obtained online, via radio or by calling specific phone numbers. En route and large scale forecasts can be interpreted from reading graphs and charts.
Clouds
One of the biggest questions I get asked is if I can fly through clouds. The easy answer to that is a very hard NO. Even if I thought that the cloud layer wasn’t very thick and I could just climb through the them to where it was calm and clear. Still no.
Moreover, there are rules about how close I can get to clouds. If I am flying less than 3000feet above sea level then all I have to do is stay clear of them. I can be just underneath a cloud or I can be beside one and that’s fine (just not inside one). The same rules apply if I am less than 1000feet above the ground (e.g. I might be going over a hill that is 4000ft above sea level.)
When I am above 3000ft, I have to give them a wider berth and keep a good 1000ft distance up and down and 1.5km horizontally. (and yes, these are two different measurement systems, that’s how aviation works - (it’s better to just accept it and move on!!)
As you can see clouds are probably one of the biggest factors in the decisions that get made each day. ‘Can I get to where I am going without going through a cloud?’ is a governing question for all daily prep.
Rain
Can I fly through rain? You may be surprised to know the answer is yes, I can (sometimes) (under particular conditions). The main thing here is visibility. I must maintain a minimum of 5km visibility, so if there is a light rain shower that I can see through (and I don’t go through any clouds) then that is ok. Obviously the heavier the rain the harder it is to see, so this is a very conditional yes.
Thunderstorms/ Lightning
Hahahaha. No.
Wind
Wind is generally only an issue for take-off and landing. Once you are up in the air and away from the ground then 20 or 30 knots (yes we use knots instead of km/h) isn’t a big deal (and absolutely awesome if it’s behind you). You have to be careful with turbulence and in particular winds that blow over the tops of mountains/ hills but generally these can be avoided. The biggest concern is in landing- the Cessna 172 that I am flying has a maximum demonstrated crosswind tolerance of 15knots. (Crosswind is amount of wind hitting the side of the plane).
Can the plane land in more than 15knots crosswind ? Sure .. I’ve done it myself under the guidance of an instructor for training but I would never attempt it myself unless in an emergency.
However, the cool thing about runways is that you can land in either direction! (And some airports even have more than one pointed in different directions). So before I land, I’ll need to know where the wind is coming from and set up an approach for the runway that is most into the wind, to keep crosswinds to a minimum. At towered airports, Air Traffic Control provide me with this information. At non towered airports, I’ll obtain it, usually via a specific phone number or radio frequency.
This happened to me at the Sunshine Coast - there was 22 knots of crosswind and only one runway! However Caloundra (only 5 mins flight away) had the same wind conditions, but a runway that lined up into the wind so much easier and safer to land.
So there you have it - those are the weather considerations that I have to take into account every day and while it can get incredibly frustrating there is a well known saying in aviation…..
Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air… than being in the air wishing you were on the ground.
Blue Skies,
Chloe
