Special vfr scenarios

[Curyfury]

With winter upon us, a special vfr arrival/departure may be needed but is still mysterious to a lot of us. I, for example, have only requested it once departing a towered airport, so its application was sort of a no brainer.

 

Now, what if i was departing an untowered airport that was ifr. If i stay in class g, maintain appropriate cloud clearances, viz, and altitudes, can i depart and arrive on my own or do i still make a request with atc? (I say no request needed) What if its an untowered class E to the surface, type airport? (I say a request is now needed)

[AS350 pilot]

You're right. Class E to the surface will require a special VFR if the weather is less than 1,000' and or the visibility is less than 3 miles. Because there is no tower, you will have to call approach / departure for your clearance.

 

The unfortunate part of SVFR is that you are a low priority. When the weather is that poor, more aircraft will be on IFR flight plans and they will have a higher priority. It can be a very useful tool though!

[Spike]

You’d need to contact the controlling agency of that particular airspace which is found in the AFD. Mind you, not all airports with class E surface areas have a controlling agencies 24/7 and thus no SVFR clearances can be issued......

[WolftalonID]

Another issue I have recently come across is, as a helicopter you can often receive the svfr clearance and go, but the controllers will only allow one svfr aircraft in their airspace at a time. Meaning if your in a heavily helicopter saturated area, you may face additional delays over those of just low priority.

 

Leaving a class G airspace airport, the visibility and cloud clearance for helicopters is 1/2 mile visibility while in the vicinity of the airport, and clear of clouds. So if you can only see 1/2 a mile....how can you justify saying your clear of clouds when its hard to see them in the first place. Using some safty first thought before action, can the flight wait for another day?

 

Once outside of the airport environment in class G airspace, its the same for day but visibility extends to 1 mile at night, for helicopters.

 

I have been up during the day when the visibiity was about 1.5 miles. In class G airspace...I turned around and went back. No on board radar, and not in ATC control, coupled with knowledge that not all area pilots used the radios efficiently or at all, and migratory birds never make position reports..my ability to see and avoid became very suspect at best. My flight could wait for another day and so it did.

 

Now considering on departure visibility was 4 miles and within 3 minutes and some altitude it changed very rapidly, sometimes we cant make that call from the ground but be willing to adjust in flight if needed.

[Gomer Pylot]

If you're in Class G airspace, and won't be going into other classes of airspace, ATC doesn't want to talk to you, because they can't give you a clearance to do anything there. For Class E to the surface, you must have a clearance of some kind if the weather is, or is reported as, less than 1000/3. An SFVR clearance is common for this scenario. Some facilities do allow multiple SVFR aircraft simultaneously, especially where there are designated SVFR routes and/or letters of agreement in force. Local knowledge is essential to know that, and you don't have to know whether they will allow it. Just call the controlling agency and request your special VFR clearance, and you get what you get. You may get a clearance immediately, or you may be told to stand by. It depends on the workload and traffic situation, as always.