Thread: Special VFR!
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Old 11-25-2008, 03:40 AM
  #9  
hurricanechaser
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Joined APC: Mar 2008
Position: Putting them back in their place!!!
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Originally Posted by WIskies View Post
Another scenario I always give my students is this:

You are crusing along in good VFR conditions under an overcast. Conditions worsen, however and the descending clouds are pushing you closer to the ground than you would like. You pick an airport to divert to and listen to the weather, vis. 10SM and 800 ft. overcast. The airport is class E (or D, or C), which means you are required to be 500 ft below the clouds (300 ft AGL!). Time to call Flight Service or ATC to request a special VFR clearance into the airport. Now you can cruise just under the deck to your diversion point and not worry about winged missles emerging from the cloud layer.

Have you ever tried to explain the weather theory behind the conditions worsening and the clouds descending forcing you to fly lower and lower, and by that I mean an approaching warm front for which you are now flying directly into?

If you can explain to your student that warm fronts can be decievingly deadly to a newly minted VFR only private pilot because the warm air slides on top of the cold air like an escalator thus causing high cirrus type cloud 100 miles out, then mid level alto-cumulus clouds 50 miles out and then low level stratus soup like clouds at the base of the warm front. Then the student can associate warm fronts with ever increasing deteorating conditions thus never fly head on with a warm front and thus never having to use Special VFR to fly to an airport reporting marginal VFR.

You might want to bring that up and get them involved with interpeting the Surface analysis charts.

There is an old adage for this: The superior pilot uses his superior judgment to keep him out of situations that require the use of his superior piloting skills.

That superior judgement come from also having superior knowledge, including weather theory. Good pilots are always learning and so am I.

And just to add another favorite quote of mine that I give to my students from time to time: Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.

Last edited by hurricanechaser; 11-25-2008 at 03:53 AM. Reason: Adding a famous quote
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