how to tell if an airport is VFR

fisher37

fisher37

Well-Known Member
so the chief pilot of my school asked me tonight on my private checkout exam, how to tell if an airport is in VFR or IFR conditions. I stated to him that the rotating beacon will be on in IFR conditions and that VFR conditions consist of 3 miles flight visibility, 2000 ft of horizontal clearance, 1000 feet above the clouds, and 500 feet below the clouds. apparently this wasnt the answer he was looking for, can somebody enlighten me on the subjet? Oh and this was in class delta airspace....
 
fisher37 said:
so the chief pilot of my school asked me tonight on my private checkout exam, how to tell if an airport is in VFR or IFR conditions. I stated to him that the rotating beacon will be on in IFR conditions and that VFR conditions consist of 3 miles flight visibility, 2000 ft of horizontal clearance, 1000 feet above the clouds, and 500 feet below the clouds. apparently this wasnt the answer he was looking for, can somebody enlighten me on the subjet? Oh and this was in class delta airspace....
Click to expand...

3 miles vis, 1000 foot ceiling.
 
Ceilings have to be 1000' or greater, not cloud clearance requirements. Also, an airport can be VFR in a mile of vis if its in class g. So, 3 miles isn't really the only metric.
 
"Bitch, check the motha ####in weather. And if you want to know how to do that, go to the motha ####in AFD and find a way to find out via phone # or internet."

That should have been your response. Some people like to just get all macho that they know more, I have a feeling this was the case.
 
v1valarob said:
"Bitch, check the motha ####in weather. And if you want to know how to do that, go to the motha ####in AFD and find a way to find out via phone # or internet."

That should have been your response. Some people like to just get all macho that they know more, I have a feeling this was the case.
Click to expand...

lol...thats not really the case...he always has one of those questions to try to stump people...hes just making sure you know what you need to know...i'll give this a try and see what happens! lol
 
I like your rotating beacon answer. That's great. Cloud clearance isn't the road to go down, though. You need better than 1000 and 3 for it to be VFR. Less than that is IFR.

At face value with the CP's question, I'd say "listen to the ATIS/AWOS". Call the tower on the phone. Call AFSS on the phone or the radio. Or check the weather on your computer. But I'd have thought the rotating beacon was what he was looking for.

For extra credit....how do you tell the airport is IFR at night? (rotating beacon is already on).
 
fisher37 said:
1000 ft ceilings, and, is it 5 mils vis? dont laugh at me if its wrong lol
Click to expand...

It's generally 3 statute miles visibility for nearly all airspaces, but as others have said, it could be as little as 1 mile if the field is situated in class-G airspace.

Another way to tell is just to take off. If, after you're airborn, you can't see ##### in front of you, the conditions aren't VFR.
 
fisher37 said:
so the chief pilot of my school asked me tonight on my private checkout exam, how to tell if an airport is in VFR or IFR conditions. I stated to him that the rotating beacon will be on in IFR conditions and that VFR conditions consist of 3 miles flight visibility, 2000 ft of horizontal clearance, 1000 feet above the clouds, and 500 feet below the clouds. apparently this wasnt the answer he was looking for, can somebody enlighten me on the subjet? Oh and this was in class delta airspace....
Click to expand...

fisher37 said:
thats what i said, he was still looking for something different...
Click to expand...

That's not what you said above, though. You described VFR cloud clearance requirements for Class D airspace, not VFR conditions. Maybe that's what your chief pilot was getting at.
 
DeltaAVL said:
...but the rotating beacon isn't used ONLY in IFR operations, is it? I swear I've seen ours on in VFR conditions...
Click to expand...
True.
Blacksburg's beacon is on at all times. Such is the case at a few non-towered airports I know of.

For some reason, a lot of people think that. True, they are normally turned on for IFR and night conditions, but it doesn't necessarily mean that IFR/night conditions exist.
 
from 2-1-8 in the pilot bible (faraim). In Class B, Class C, Class D and Class E surface area, operation of the airport beacon during the hours of daylight OFTEN indicates that the ground visibility is less than 3 miles and/or the ceiling is less than 1000 feet. ATC clearance in accordance with 14 CFR Part 91 is required for landing, takeoff and flight in the traffic pattern. Pilots should not rely soley on the operation of the airport beacon to indiated if weather conditions are IFR or VFR. At some locations with operating control towers, ATC personel turn the beacon on or off when controls are in the tower. At many airports the beacon is turned on by a photoelectric cell or time clocks and ATC cannot control them. There is no regulatory requirement for daylight operation and it is the pilots responsibility to comply with proper preflight planning as required by 14 CFR section 91.103.

So basically I could have got grilled by the CP if i had read this before. I do know that our tower does have control of our beacon, and turns it on at night, and in IFR conditions only. So i guess it just depends from airport to airport.
 
by the way, i appreciate all the input from you guys! i'll go talk to the CP tomorrow, hopefully this is what hes looking for, 1000 ft ceilings, and 3 miles flight vis. I think that he knew that i knew what it was, but i just didnt say it in the right form, lol
 
DE727UPS said:
I like your rotating beacon answer. That's great. Cloud clearance isn't the road to go down, though. You need better than 1000 and 3 for it to be VFR. Less than that is IFR.

At face value with the CP's question, I'd say "listen to the ATIS/AWOS". Call the tower on the phone. Call AFSS on the phone or the radio. Or check the weather on your computer. But I'd have thought the rotating beacon was what he was looking for.

For extra credit....how do you tell the airport is IFR at night? (rotating beacon is already on).
Click to expand...

If I can't find it after hitting direct to for the fifth time.
 
DeltaAVL said:
...but the rotating beacon isn't used ONLY in IFR operations, is it? I swear I've seen ours on in VFR conditions...
Click to expand...
You're right. Rotating beacon on during the day is not a regulatory indication of IFR. I remember a quiz somewhere along the way where the question was , "What doe a rotating beacon mean during the day." The correct answer was "a controller forgot to turn it off."

==============================
AIM 2-1-8(d) In Class B, Class C, Class D and Class E surface areas, operation of the airport beacon during the hours of daylight often indicates that the ground visibility is less than 3 miles and/or the ceiling is less than 1,000 feet. ATC clearance in accordance with 14 CFR Part 91 is required for landing, takeoff and flight in the traffic pattern. Pilots should not rely solely on the operation of the airport beacon to indicate if weather conditions are IFR or VFR. At some locations with operating control towers, ATC personnel turn the beacon on or off when controls are in the tower. At many airports the airport beacon is turned on by a photoelectric cell or time clocks and ATC personnel cannot control them. There is no regulatory requirement for daylight operation and it is the pilot's responsibility to comply with proper preflight planning as required by 14 CFR Section 91.103.
==============================

My answer to the OP instructor's question, which dealt with class D airspace, would be to listen to the ATIS or AWOS or, if it had neither (doubtful) to ask for the reported ceiling. If they reported a ceiling less than 1000', the airport was IFR.

If that wasn't the answer, I'd ask what the trick was.
 
Not every airport that's IFR has the beacon on. Best stick with the ceiling and vis for the class of airspace at the airport surface.

On a side note, careful with that Chinese buffet in Salina. I rolled through there on a delivery flight the other week and got "grounded" at my next fuel stop.

(Terms I considered besides "grounded" include: "Held for Release", "Ground Stop", "Cleared to pu..." Grounded sounded best.)
 
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