This is for your crop dusters, your powered gliders and the uncontrolled airports around the country. When you understand that, the minimums (and the corresponding altitudes) make sense. For those planes the following are their minimums: 5 statute miles, 1,000 feet above, 1,000 feet below and 1 statue mile between. Some of the faster, more advanced planes will fly above 10,000 feet MSL while not being on an IFR flight plan. 3 statute miles and 1,000 feet above, 500 feet below and 2,000 feet horizontally. Since most small general aviation planes fly below 10,000 feet MSL for the most part the regs for Class E are the same as Class C/D. Rather than remembering 9,999 feet or below it is easier to remember the 10,000 foot marker. There are two specifications, below 10,000 feet MSL and at and above 10,000 feet MSL. The altitudes are noted in MSL or Mean Sea Level or “True Altitude”. This is the first class that has altitude requirements added to it. 3 statue miles is shortened to 3 and clouds in the ABH format is 1,000 feet above, 500 feet below and 2,000 feet horizontal or 152. And it will forever make history as a weather minimum mnemonic. It is one of the most requested training airplanes the world over. You can be darn close to them, but touching them breaks your minimums rule.īoth of these classes can be easily remembered with a simple mnemonic. What does clear of clouds mean? Simply don’t touch them. The statute miles can be dropped (as all visibility numbers are statute miles) and Clear of Clouds is abbreviated to CoC. They are both easy to remember, and very easy to fly. This is our first airspace where we have minimums. While this may be easy to answer I promise you, if you are going for your interview with an airline they may try and trick you with this question. This is most likely the easiest to remember. Also, to help us remember the order of distance we will use ABH, or “Always Be Hunting” as in searching for clouds. This is a lot of numbers and specifics to remember so let’s make it a little easier and break it down by airspace. The table below shows the minimums as the regs state. VFR or Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) are split up by airspace.
#Easy weather minimums faa code
Thankfully the weather minimums reside in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) title 14 (Federal Aviation Administration) part 91.155. The FAA has established the minimum conditions a VFR pilot may fly. But if I want to expand my skill as a pilot there is more weather that I can fly in.Īs a VFR pilot we need to know the rules and regulations out there. I have that flexibility as a private pilot who flies for fun. This, while slightly exaggerated, means that I only fly in “perfect” conditions. Good weather for me is calm to about 10 kts winds, no hint of rain and at best, small cumulus clouds in the sky. However, that alone severely limits my ability to get hours. If you’re anything like me, as a new private pilot, I only fly in “good” weather and when I want to.