Aero-Tips!

A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of "there are no old, bold pilots.") It's part of what makes aviation so exciting for all of us... just when you think you've seen it all, along comes a scenario you've never imagined.

Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner, master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us -- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators, and as representatives of the flying community. Some of them, you may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we might never have considered before, or something that didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for the practical test.

It is our unabashed goal that "Aero-Tips" will help our readers become better, safer pilots -- as well as introducing our ground-bound readers to the concepts and principles that keep those strange aluminum-and-composite contraptions in the air... and allow them to soar magnificently through it.

Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you through the Aero-News Network. Suggestions for future Aero-Tips are always welcome, as are additions or discussion of each day's tips. Remember... when it comes to being good pilots, we're all in this together.

Aero-Tips 02.27.06

You have your clearance void time and you’re ready to take off into fog. Or “out west” where the Class G roams yet the skies are cloudy all day, you plan a point-to-point flight that keeps you in Class G airspace. What are the rules for Instrument Flight Rules (IFR)?

Uncontrolled

Class G airspace is by definition uncontrolled—no Air Traffic Control (ATC) facility has responsibility for that airspace, meaning no one can provide you an IFR clearance. If you’re instrument rated and current, and your airplane IFR certified and equipped, you may fly in IMC in this uncontrolled airspace. Sometimes you have to climb through Class G on instruments until you reach controlled airspace (common ATC instruction: “enter controlled airspace on [heading]”). Under some conditions you can cruise “uncontrolled” in Class G while in the clouds.

...But Not Wild

When IFR in Class G the pilot is responsible for terrain separation—FAR 91.177 requires altitudes of at least 1000 feet above the top of any obstacles within four nautical miles of course, raised to 2000 feet in mountainous terrain. For traffic avoidance, also the pilot’s responsibility in Class G, the “hemisphere rule” for cruising altitudes applies (in fact, for both VFR and IFR cruising altitudes, the hemisphere rule only applies in uncontrolled airspace, although it’s generally used in controlled airspace also).

The pilot is solely responsible for collision avoidance in Class G airspace. Unless your airplane has on-board traffic detection equipment you’re entirely dependant on “big sky theory” to avoid hitting other airplanes in IMC.

Aero-tip of the day: Understand the risks, requirements and rewards of the ability to fly IFR in Class G airspace.

FMI: Aero-Tips