Regulations: VFR vs. IFR
Learning Goal 1g. Explain the difference between visual &
instrument flight rules (VFR, IFR) and meteorological conditions (VFC, VMC,
IFC, IMC), and how they affect aviation.
Visual Flight
VFR = Visual Flight Rules means
that you fly by mostly looking out the window. You need good visibility
and need to stay out of clouds. By looking with your eyes, you can:
- navigate (see where you are relative to landmarks on the ground)
so
you can go toward your destination without flying through airspace
where you are not allowed;
- avoid hitting obstacles, such as mountains, tall towers, or other
aircraft;
- control the aircraft — namely, see whether it is climbing (nose
up), descending (nose down), or turning (banked left or right);
- find airports and land on the appropriate runway.
All pilots, including private pilots, learn how to fly VFR during
their basic pilot training.
Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) or Visual Flight Conditions
(VFC)
is the name given to weather that is good enough for you to fly VFR.
The specific values of visibility and clouds for VMC are specified by
regulations, and depend on your location. For example, in the USA and
Canada, the normal weather minimums needed to fly VFR at an airport
are: horizontal visibility of 3 statute miles or more, and ceiling
(altitude of the lowest overcast or broken cloud base) of 1000 feet
above the airport.
Flying VFR is very enjoyable because you can see amazing scenery
from the air.
But what happens to pilots with only VFR skills if they accidentally
fly into clouds, fog, or other obscuration that reduces their ability
to see things outside the window:
- most often pilots are not able to determine if the aircraft is
rightside-up. These VFR pilots are not trained to interprete and
igore their balance signals from their inner ear, or their inertial
feelings (seat of their pants). So the pilots inadvertantly turn
the steering wheel (control yoke) in the
wrong direction. This causes the aircraft to stall (lose aerodynamic lift, causing the
plane to fall out of the sky), or spin
(a rapid spiral corkscrew descent) until the aircraft crashes on the
ground. Namely, the pilot loses
control of the aircraft.
- pilots also lose track of where they are. Because of this,
they might accidentally fly into mountains or other high terrain that
they cannot see (called "controlled flight into terrain" by accident
investigations). Or they might fly in the wrong direction and
never find their airport, requiring them to make an emergency landing
on a road or farm field before they run out of fuel. Or they
might hit tall TV towers or powerlines. Or they might hit other
aircraft. Or they might accidentally fly into more-dangerous
weather such as thunderstorms.
- psychology is another factor. As pilots get into difficult
situations, they can panic.
Namely, they are so scared about their situation that they become
irrational, they forget their emergency training, and they make poor
decisions. The result: a bad situation can become worse.
- This video re-creates the fatal flight of a VFR pilot who flew
into IMC (instrument meteorological conditions) associated with clouds,
rain, and snow in the mountains. ATC = air traffic control. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLmzy8ZPgtc
Marginally Visual Flight
Conditions for which VFR is allowed, but for which
visibility is poor and/or cloud-base is low, are called Marginal VFR
(MVFR).
It is a lot more work to fly in these conditions because it is hard to
see landmarks on the ground, and difficult to see other aircraft that
may be near you.
Instrument Flight
IFR = Instrument Flight Rules mean
that you can conduct most of the flight by NOT looking out the
window. Instead, you:
- navigate using onboard GPS map displays and other navigation
signals
- control the aircraft by looking at the instruments on your
dashboard (called a "control panel" on aircraft)
- get to airports by following the instructions and clearances
given by air traffic controllers (ATC)
who keep track of your flight and make sure you arrive at your
distination without hitting anything (mountains or other aircraft or
tall towers). You are required to file a flight
plan before you start, so that ATC knows where you want to go.
Above Left: Old style aircraft
instruments.
Above Right: Control tower for air traffic control (ATC).
Below: Newer style "glass cockpit" aircraft instruments. (Accessed Aug
2018 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cirrus_Interior.jpg )
These videos show examples of flights in small aircraft having "glass" (modern flat-panel) cockpit instruments.
To fly IFR, you need to:
- be specially trained to believe the instruments and to ignore
your
normal physiological stimuli like inner-ear signals (that could cause
vertigo) and "seat of the pants" feelings of pressure or G-forces on
your body
- have an aircraft with the proper instruments and radios, all in
good working order
- have the proper charts (paper or electronic)
You can fly IFR in good and in bad weather. Bad weather is called Instrument Flight Conditions (IFC) or Instrument Meteorological Conditions
(IMC), i.e. weather for which VFR flight is not allowed.
Nonetheless, even IFR pilots must stay out of thunderstorms (due to
violent turbulence, hail, lightning, etc.) and out of volcanic ash
(which sandblasts the engines, causing them to fail). Also, not all
aircraft are built with the equipment to remove ice that forms on the
wings and propellors, so even IFR pilots without the right aircraft
need to stay out of clouds with supercooled cloud and rain drops.
Flying IFR is like playing video game where you are given certain
clues (readings on your instruments) and you need to figure out what
the aircraft is doing and what adjustments you need to make. It takes a
lot of attention and can be exhausting if you don't have an autopilot.
Unlike a video game, there is no reset button if you crash.
VFR Over the Top
VFR over the top is when there is a
layer of clouds below you, so you cannot see the ground to help you
navigate. But above the clouds where you are flying, the air is clear
(good visibility and few clouds), so you can control the aircraft and
avoid hitting other aircraft.
You need some of the skills of the IFR pilot (to navigate and
control the aircraft without seeing the ground), but in many countries
you do not need an IFR clearance to fly VFR over the top. The problem
is that if you get to your destination and the layer of clouds is still
below you (with no gaps in the clouds), then you have a serious problem
if you cannot legally fly IFR because you cannot see the airport to
land on.
Generic Rules for Determining IFR vs. VFR from ceiling and
visibility
For flight safety, the 3-D air above the earth's surface is divided
into different regions (called airspaces)
depending on the types of flight, congestion near airports, closeness
to the ground or mountains, and various restricted airspaces. Each
different class of airspace has different requirements of visibility
and ceiling in order to operate within them. We will not go into the
details here.
However, for many situations, the following is a rough guide* (as
used in Canadian Graphical Area Forecasts [GFA] Comments on IFR
Outlook) to
help you determine if the flight can be conducted visually (VFR).
VFR = nice weather. Have fun flying and enjoy the scenery you see out the windows.
MVFR = marginal VFR. Namely, you can legally fly VFR, but you will find it difficult
to see and avoid obstacles and other aircraft because of poor visibility and/or low clouds.
IFR means that you are not allowed to fly at all (i.e., you are
grounded), unless you and your aircraft are certified for instrument
flight and you obtained a clearance to take-off and fly from Air
Traffic Control.
Category
|
Ceiling (AGL = above ground level)
|
|
Visibility (SM = statute miles)
|
IFR
|
cloud base is less than 1,000 ft AGL
|
and/or
|
less than 3 SM
|
MVFR
|
cloud base is between 1,000 ft and 3,000 ft AGL
|
and/or
|
between 3 and 5 SM
|
VFR
|
cloud base is more than 3,000 ft AGL
|
AND
|
more than 5 SM
|
* given in the TC AIM section MET 4.9 Graphical Area Forecast (GFA) Comments Box.
Table 4.3-IFR Outlook Criteria.
Keywords: air traffic
controllers (ATCs), airspaces, flight plan, instrument flight rules
(IFR), instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), marginal VFR (MVFR),
VFR over the top, visual flight conditions (VFC), visual flight rules
(VFR), visual meteorological conditions (VMC), control yoke, stall,
spin, loss of control, panic.
Extra info for Experts; Not Needed for this
Course.
Image credits. All figures by Roland
Stull, except where indicated near a photo.