A question for the career pilots?

[r22butters]

Now I'm not a career pilot, and quite frankly the only time I've flirted with the clouds was while in pursuit of becoming a career pilot (on one of those stupid time building ferry flights) but given this video and the other one I posted (plus a couple others I've seen recently) I feel the need to ask.

 

Is it normal to fly over the clouds in VFR only aircraft?

 

,...at about 1:18

[Eric Hunt]

Depends on your Authority's definition of VMC: 1000' vertical separation from cloud, 1500m horizontal, 5000m viz.

 

So, to answer your question, this dude was outside the limits.

 

You are permitted to overfly a cloud layer, with the above separation, up to 6 octas, but you still gotta be able to fix your position VISUALLY every (30?) minutes. Don't remember the time interval, and no longer care.

[Thedude]

VFR over the top is a legal mode of flight but not necessarily the smartest in a non-IFR equipped or single engine aircraft. It can be useful in situations where low level obscurations would otherwise prevent a a VFR flight from being conducted with ground reference the entire way. If the climb out and descent can be made in VFR conditions and the flight above the layer can meet VFR cloud clearances then it is a viable option to get where you need to be.

[Wally]

If and when I did it, it had to be VFR legal underneath the deck. Initial climb would be well above the clouds, high enough to see if I could continue along breaks in the cloud deck. The best use would be a weak stationary front, at least 500 and 3 (or 300 and 2 in some aircraft) where I could operate underneath. One direction or the other would have a tailwind, and one direction or the other would have completely unobstructed vision and usually clear above. I did not traverse clouds without visual contact with the ground.

 

I might also do so other times for much, much better vis and reduced traffic.

[crashed_05]

The thin cloud layer didn't concern me as much as flying near the prescribed burn/wildfire. If a fire is in question, it should be reported from a distance. You never know if and how many aircraft are operating around the fire, whether a TFR is up or not.

[SBuzzkill]

I've done it quite a few times in much more capable aircraft. Still VFR only birds, but glass cockpit with backup systems and a good GPS. Never above a thick layer and always with good VFR conditions on the other side. We are restricted per Army regulations to 30 minutes VFR over the top.

Edited November 4, 2017 by SBuzzkill

[ARM_Coder]

I'm a bit rusty but IIRC you can fly above the layer, but must have at least 50% of visual contact with the surface to stay within VFR limits.

 

Cheers!