Re: [Flightgear-devel] SVFR

[Ryan Larson]

I have only had to ask for SVFR once.. and ironically it was because I 
needed to do a VFR night flight for my multi engine rating.  We left 
KDPA north to KFLD.  On the way back the visibility had dropped to about 
2 miles and the cloud deck had dropped to about 1200 AGL.  Now normally 
I would simply call up and get an IFR clearance to fly the approach, but 
to I needed to log this as a VFR trip.  So we called up KDPA tower and 
asked for a SVFR clearance.  They told us to hold 7 miles north of the 
field while they took care of two IFR flights landing.  Once they were 
done with them, they allowed us to enter the airspace and land.  We had 
to dodge some light snow showers and a few low clouds, but with the help 
of the Garmin 430 GPS, we were able to find the airport and land safely.

Ryan

Alex Perry wrote:

David said:
 

SVFR means something entirely different in North America. [...]
   

His was a good summary.  It did not address the pilot qualifications
and currencies needed to use SVFR, which exist in part because SVFR
is often used for scud running ... which is extremely dangerous.
The reason for SVFR as a third set of flight rules is that it basically
permits very near to clouds visual navigation under conditions which 
preclude see and avoid separation from other traffic.  Unusual situation.
Whereas IFR traffic could share airspace with VFR, because the ordinary VFR
keeps far enough away from clouds to allow aircraft to avoid each other,
no IFR is possible in a block of airspace that is being used for SVFR.
Of course, you cannot have two SVFR operations in the same airspace block.

Because SVFR shuts down IFR, it has to be granted by whoever owns the right
to grant IFR clearances through all airspace being approved for SVFR use.
For as long as the SVFR use is authorized, all IFR traffic is turned away.
All airlines are required to operate all scheduled flights under IFR,
and KLAX cannot accept the schedule disruption associated with _any_ SVFR
because the backlog of waiting aircraft would build up far too quickly.
Technically, there is no reason to specify the "No SVFR" because they can
simply always say no.  However, making the statement on charts saves them
having to say that often, and deal with the subsequent pilot complaints.
Not all SVFR uses are for scud running.  If the visibility drops very low,
as it often does in the Los Angeles basin, the airports can go below VFR
minimums and all VFR traffic is blocked on the ground or is above the 
inversion layer a couple of thousand feet above the airport runways.
Pilots then need an IFR clearance to fly the one mile of climb/descent
that gets them through the smog.  Alternatively, they can use SVFR.

Note that there are cases that are safe to fly and where it is illegal
to land at an airport under VFR or under IFR but still legal under SVFR.
I have never needed to request an SVFR ... yet ...

_______________________________________________
Flightgear-devel mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
 



_______________________________________________
Flightgear-devel mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel