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How to Fly under VFR
Written by Randy Jones

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Basic VFR Rules
3. VFR and Airspace
4. VFR Navigation
5. The VFR Flightplan
6. Operational Considerations

Section 1 -- Introduction

Ahhh...the wonderful world of fair weather flying. Clear skies, few or no clouds...it's time for VFR! In the real world of flying, VFR is the first thing you learn. VFR stand for "Visual Flight Rules" which are a set of rules that govern flight by visual reference. This manual discusses these rules, as well as various other elements of VFR flight, all the way from Airspace to the VFR Flightplan. For those of you who are new to this great hobby, take lots of notes, and compare the difference between VFR and IFR. Enjoy!

Section 2 -- Basic VFR Rules

Before you can begin your VFR flight, you must check the weather. VFR is limited by weather, if the weather is below the set VFR Minimums, you cannot fly under VFR rules.

VFR Minimum Weather Requirements in Controlled Airspace (Class B,C,D,E)

Visibility must be no less than 3 Statute Miles.
The lowest Cloud Ceiling (Broken or Overcast) must be no lower than 3,000 feet AGL.
You may NOT fly into the clouds for any reason (unless you have an emergency).

VFR Minimum Weather Requirements in Uncontrolled Airspace (Class G)

Visibility must be no less than 1 Statute Mile.
You must remain clear of all clouds.
Do NOT enter the clouds.

Click here to check the current METAR weather at your departure/destination airport.

Click here to learn how to read METAR and TAF reports.

Section 3 -- VFR and Airspace

When you're under VFR, you must follow certain rules when in controlled and uncontrolled airspace. These rules are briefly covered in the ATC manual, but we'll cover them in depth here, in order of airspace classification.

Class A Airspace

Class A airspace begins at 18,000 feet MSL and extends up to 60,000 feet MSL. VFR flight is not allowed in Class A airspace. If you wish to fly above FL180, you'll need to file an IFR flight plan prior to entering the airspace. Also, upon entering FL180, set your altimeter to 29.92. Once you descend through FL180, ATC will give you the current local altimeter setting.

Because you must be IFR in Class A, there are not any weather criteria to comply with.

Class B Airspace

Class B airspace is the airspace that you will find around the busiest airports. Los Angeles, Seattle, and Denver have Class B airspace. It extends up to 10,000 feet MSL (not AGL) and looks like an upside down wedding cake. Before you enter Class B airspace, you will need a clearance. Don't even think about flogging your C-172 into Class B without a clearance. You have to call up ATC first and request clearance through their airspace. If you don't want to do that, you can always stay below the Class B airspace. ATC really gets annoyed if you takeoff from an airport underneath a shelf layer of Class B airspace and proceed to fly through it to your destination. If you do this, expect the VATSIM controller to send you a nice message advising you to contact them...

To fly VFR in Class B Airspace, you must have a visibility no less than 3 Statute Miles, and must remain clear of clouds. If ATC gives you a vector to fly and it will take you through a cloud, advise ATC and request alternate vectoring. Since there will probably be aircraft much larger than your C-172, you will need to keep an eye open for traffic at all times. If there's a 747 to your right that will intersect your direction of flight in thirty three seconds, you may want to alter your route of flight so you don't collide with him and ruin his day.

While flying through Class B airspace, you may not be in contact with the control tower. Most often you will be speaking with an Approach (APP) or a Departure (DEP) controller (assuming that there is one online at the time). Controllers in Class B airspace will give you safety alerts, traffic advisories, limited vectoring, and traffic sequencing at certain locations. They are not required to give you weather information, but if you request it, they can, workload permitting.

Class C Airspace

Class C Airspace is used around major airports that aren't as busy as Los Angeles or Denver. Portland, Oregon (PDX) is an example of Class C airspace. Class C consists of two parts, an inner core that has a radius of 5 Nautical Miles and extends up to 4,000 feet above the primary airport. A secondary shelf, that begins 1,200 feet AGL and extends up to 4,000 feet with a radius of 10 Nautical Miles makes it look similar in shape to Class B, but not as complex. To enter Class C airspace, you must first establish two-way radio communications. For example, you call up: "Portland Approach, Cessna 1234B, 15 miles north, inbound for landing with Information Juliet (the current ATIS broadcast)." Portland Approach may reply with "Cessna 1234B, Radar Contact." That means he sees you, he knows your intentions, and you are clear to enter the airspace. If he says "Cessna 1234B, stand by" or "Cessna 1234B, remain outside of Class C airspace" that means that you cannot enter at that time.

To fly VFR in Class C, you must have a visibility no less than 3 Statute Miles, and you must remain 500 feet below, 1,000 feet above, and 2,000 feet horizontal of any clouds in that airspace.

Class D Airspace

Class D Airspace is much simpler in construction to Class B It usually has a radius of 5 Nautical Miles around the primary airport, and extends up to 2,500 feet above the primary airport. The shape of Class D may vary, depending on which runways have instrument approaches, so it may not be a perfect cylendar in shape. To enter Class D, you will need to establish two-way radio communications as well.

To fly in Class D, the weather criteria are the same as Class C: No less than 3 Statute Miles visibility, and you must remain 500 feet below, 1,000 feet above, and 2,000 feet horizontal of any clouds in that airspace.

Class E Airspace

If you're in controlled airspace, but not in Class A, B, C, or D, you will be in Class E airspace. This includes Victor Airways. Class E usually begins at 1,200 feet AGL, but around some uncontrolled and Class D airports, it may begin as low as 700 feet AGL. In Class E, you don't need to establish any radio communications unless you wish to have Flight Following (radar services from a Center or an Approach controller). Usually it's a good thing to keep in contact with a Flight Service Station, if open.

To operate under VFR in Class E you must have a visibility no less than 3 Statute Miles, and you must remain 500 feet below, 1,000 feet above, and 2,000 feet horizontal of any clouds in that airspace. If you're in Class E above 10,000 feet MSL, you must have a visibility no less than 5 Statute Miles and must remain 1,000 feet below, 1,000 feet above, and 1 Statute Mile horizontal of all clouds.

Class G Airspace

If you're not in controlled airspace, i.e. below 1,200 feet AGL, then you are in Uncontrolled airspace, a.k.a. Class G. The only thing you need in Class G is to have the minimum weather criteria:

If below 10,000 feet MSL in Class G during the day: 1 Statute Mile visibility and remain clear of all clouds.

If below 10,000 feet MSL in Class G during the night: 3 Statute Miles visibility and clear of clouds.

If above 10,000 feet MSL in class G airspace: 5 Statute Miles visibility.

Note: if the Class G extends above 1,200 AGL (it does sometimes) you must follow Class E cloud separation requirements if you're below or above 10,000 feet MSL.

Study the airspace section thoroughly and memorize it! Now, the fun begins...

Section 5 -- VFR Navigation

There are many ways to navigate under VFR. This section will discuss several popular VFR navigation methods that you should practice. For a complete navigation tutorial, refer to the "How to Naviagate" tutorial also found on our training website.

Pilotage

This is the process by where you navigate by visual reference. This works great in the real world, or if you have special scenery files in Flight Sim. You can navigate point to point by landmark in this fashion. It's pretty easy to do, and it's what most VFR pilots use if they're making a quick hop around their hometown or a flight from Tacoma Narrows (KTIW) to Olympia (KOLM).

Dead Reckoning

This is the process of navigating by a defined course or airway to your destination. On your sectional chart (that you should have purchased by now) you will draw a series of lines connecting landmarks/airports/VOR's together to form a course to your final destination. After you draw the lines, you figure out your true course, add or subtract the magnetic variation, and come up with a magnetic course to write down on your flight plan. After this, you compute for winds aloft and figure out a heading for each leg of your journey, along with time enroute and fuel consumption. For you math majors, this should be easy. For you non-math majors, it's easy, and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to do it. Many real VFR pilots take pride into preparing an accurate flight plan this way. Others are too lazy and just fly in a particular direction to get where they're going.

VOR Navigation under VFR

Under VFR, you don't utilize the VOR as you would under IFR, however it is useful. If you get lost, you can tune in two local VOR's and by determining which radial you are on, you can compute your exact location (more about using the VOR is explained under the "How to Navigate" tutorial). You also can use the VOR when you're on a Victor Airway, as Victor Airways are generally placed inbetween two VOR's.

Before you prepare your flightplan, you will need to know which direction you are flying. Your direction determines your alititude of flight. If you're on an Easterly course (000-179), you will need to choose an ODD altitude, plus 500 feet (3500, 7500, etc.). If you're on a Westerly course (180-359), you will need to choose an EVEN altitude, plus 500 feet (6500, 8500, etc.). This separates East and Westbound aircraft and prevents them from colliding, especially if you're flying in a Victor Airway.

You're on your way to flying VFR! But before you can go anywhere, take a look at the next section.

Section 5 -- The VFR Flightplan

This section discusses two different types of flightplans, a pilotage flightplan and a dead reckoning flightplan. Read this section carefully before you file your VFR flightplan. For both flightplans, assume we're in a Piper Warrior II, registration N514MS (the plane I fly out of KELN).

VFR Flightplan by Pilotage
You're sitting in "Rotors" at Tacoma Narrows (A wonderful restaurant) (KTIW) watching the planes land and takeoff with your buddy. You two are talking about taking a quick little VFR hop across the bay to Port Townsend and back to show off the local scenery of the Puget Sound, as your buddy is from out of town. You happen to have your plane sitting on the ramp, fueled and ready to go. Since today's weather is beautiful, you can fly a basic VFR flight by pilotage, as you know the Puget Sound like the back of your hand.

You pull out your sectional chart and plot your course. You decide on the following landmarks to navigate by: Vashon Island, Elliott Bay, the Southern tip of Whidbey Island, Indian Island, and Port Townsend Airport (0S9). You draw your course lines, compute the distance, correct for winds and get your headings. Pretty simple stuff. You also determine that your course will be on a Northwesterly heading, so you choose a solid VFR altitude of 4,500 feet. Add some fuel computations and a time enroute, put it on your flight plan, call the FSS to file your flight plan (in real life...on SB you hit the "file flight plan" command), and you're ready to preflight and go!

Here's a photo journal of the trip from KTIW to K0S9 by use of landmarks.

Your preflight goes well, and you board your Piper Warrior. Start up the engines, give the normal preflight "seatbelt and emergency" briefing to your buddy, and you're ready for taxi. Tune in the ATIS before you call up ground! You get your taxi clearance, and off to Runway 35 you go...and over to the tower and before you know it you're in the air.

You call up the tower and request a Northeast Departure, which would turn you on course to head direct to Elliott Bay. Taking a look on your sectional, Class B airspace begins at 3,000 feet MSL. You call up Seattle Approach on 119.200 before you reach 3,000 feet to get your clearance. "Seattle Approach, Warrior 514MS at 2,000 feet, 5 nm NE of Tacoma Narrows with request..." They respond "Warrior 514MS state request." You reply "Request clearance to enter Class B airspace to complete our flight plan as filed. We intend to cross near Elliott Bay at 4,500." Approach answers back, "Warrior 514MS, request approved. Climb and maintain 4,500, squawk 0200, you are clear to enter Class B Airspace."

You're now established on your route, your airspeed has been set to cruise, engine RPM's have been adjusted. You're listening to ATC for any traffic advisories and enjoying the view.

Passing Elliot bay to the West with a clearance to enter Class B airspace (very important...). You're still in Class B airspace and need to keep alert for any traffic advisories, especially any traffic enroute for Boeing Field. Ahead of you, you can see the Space Needle, and to the East is Downtown Seattle, Safeco Field, the new Football Stadium, and the tideflats. Quite spectacular from the air (or FS2k or better also...not pictured).

You're approaching the Southern tip of Whidbey Island and you're out of Class B airspace. At this time, Approach may clear you to proceed under VFR and to change your transponder to 1200. If this is the case, you're clear to proceed under VFR rules to your destination. However, if you wish to continue with radar services, you may be handed off to Center, told to squawk another code, and asked to remain that frequency. Usually, as you approach your destination, Center will cancel "Flight Following (as it's called)" however if they're busy or if you request otherwise, you can request the cancellation of this radar service, and at that time will be asked to "squawk" the VFR code of 1200.

At this time you're now over the Southern tip of Whidbey Island. You turn left on course to Indian Island and then onto the Port Townsend airport for landing. You won't begin your descent until reaching Indian Island, you elect to remain under Flight Following with ATC.

As you overfly Indian Island, you start your descent. You choose and altitude well above the TPA (Traffic Pattern Altitude), in this case 2500 feet, as you're still a ways out from the airport, and you may have terrain to clear, and/or other traffic to avoid.

Once the airport is in sight, call up the Unicom or CTAF for the airport and listen to the traffic. Once you have determined the active runway for the airport, you should maneuver for a 45 degree course that intercepts the Downwind Leg of the active runway, as pictured below. At this time you may descend to the TPA which at this airport is 1,100 feet MSL or 1,000 feet AGL.

At about a half mile out from the airport, you turn onto Downwind and maintain the TPA until you feel it's safe to begin the approach to land.At the numbers, you pull the power back to 1500 rpm's, drop a notch of flaps, slow to 70 kts (for this aircraft) and start your descent. You turn onto the Base Leg, drop some more flaps, evaluate your position, turn onto final and drop some more flaps. Once you feel you can make the runway, lower all flaps and slow to your approach speed.

A sucessful landing!

Your VFR flight by Pilotage is complete!

VFR Flightplan by Dead Reckoning

As mentioned above, this flightplan is a tighter-knit flightplan that takes everything into consideration. It also requires much more flight planning. For the purposes of this tutorial, we'll take a VFR flightplan from Port Townsend back to Tacoma Narrows with the same aircraft.

Grab your sectional chart! On the return flight, we'll be taking Victor Airway V-4 from Port Townsend down to Elliott Bay. This Airway is flown INBOUND on the SEA VOR (116.8) on Radial (course) 127 degrees (refer to the VOR section of the Navigation Tutorial). At Elliott Bay, we'll head South to Downtown Tacoma, then turn West for landing at Tacoma Narrows. We'll climb up to 3500 feet on V-4 and maintain until Downtown Tacoma. We'll also need clearance to enter Class B airspace prior to crossing Bainbridge Island. Here's what our flight would look like on the flight plan form:

Route Altitude True
Course Airspeed Winds Wind Correction Mag.
Variation Ground
Speed Mag
Heading Distance
to next Time Enroute Actual Time Fuel
(6.0 GPH)

K0S9 3500 190 100 330 @ 10 +4/194 -19 107 175 2.5 nm 1.4 minutes 2.1
Gal**

V-4 3500 127 100 330 @ 10 -2/125 n/a* 109 106 30 nm 16.5
minutes 1.6
Gal

Elliott Bay 3500 185 100 330 @ 10 +3/188 -19 108 169 20 nm 11
minutes 1.1
Gal

Downtown Tacoma 3500 290 100 330 @ 10 +4/294 -19 92 275 6 nm 4
minutes 0.4
Gal

KTIW n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

*indicates Victor Airways are already corrected for Magnetic Course, and you don't need to add/subtract the Magnetic Variation.
**indicates you should always add 0.7 U.S. Gallons to fuel consumption to for taxi/runup/and takeoff prior to flying enroute to your next destination.

Let's go through the flightplan for a moment. Once you takeoff from Port Townsend, you should overfly the airport at your planned altitude and begin to record your actual time enroute upon crossing the airport. You fly the magnetic heading of 175 once you're over the airport, and set your Nav 1 to the Seattle VOR (116.8) and turn the OBS to 127, as you're about to intercept that radial. Once the VOR needle begins to center, start your turn and time it so that you'll roll out established on the 127 Radial of the SEA VOR, which will put you dead in the middle of Victor Airway V-4. Fly this route for the 30 nm as indicated on your flight plan. Once over Elliott Bay, turn to the magnetic heading of 169 for the 20 nm run down to Downtown Tacoma. Once you're over downtown Tacoma, turn right to 275 and start your descent to TPA and call up the Tower at Tacoma Narrows and advise them that you're inbound for landing.

Are the numbers confusing Let's clarify a few things. On your secional chart, all directions that you get from using a plotter will be TRUE, not magnetic. This does not include Victor Airways, which are already indicated in magnetic, as they usually follow a specific radial of a VOR. So as you make your wind corrections, you need to take into account the magnetic variation as indicated on your chart. It's usually a dashed purple line that cuts across the chart and indicates a numerical figure with a + or - which tells you how much to add or subtract from your wind computations. If you have a "whiz wheel" type flight computer, the back side has a section where you compensate your course for the winds and compute your groundspeed. That's how I came up with the groundspeed figures. Take the grounspeed and correlate it with the distance of each leg and you get a time enroute. Take that time and compare it to the ratio of fuel burn, and you get a fuel consumption figure for each leg as well. It's not as difficult as it seems.

To keep this manual in an easy to view format, I'll not include a picture-by-picture documentary of this flightplan. Try making some of your own flightplans, so long as you have a sectional chart and a good flight computer (you can buy a "whiz wheel" from Sporty's or your local FBO for under ten bucks). It doesn't have to be from Tacoma Narrows or Seattle. Get the sectional chart for your local area. Familiarize yourself with it, and compare it's features with what you see out of your window. Heck, save up $25 bucks and take an intraductory flight at your nearest FBO just to see what VFR is like in person. Maybe you'll even be hooked on real flying for good. Just remember to use VFR as a backbone to your flying knowledge, and don't ever confuse it with IFR, as ATC won't be too happy.

Section 6 -- Operational Considerations

There are many different aspects of VFR that one needs to consider before even getting into your airplane. A small list of those that you may encounter while using Flight Sim online are listed here, and may be updated in the future.

Right-of-Way Rules

When flying online, maybe not as often as in real life, but you'll find that certain types of aircraft or aircraft involved in certain operations have what's called the "right-of-way." It's sorta like driving a car or sailing a ship, except you're in the air and you don't have a turn signal to flash. Below is a list of some common right-of-way rules.

Right-of-Way by order of aircraft maneuverablitly and distress.

Rotorcraft (Helicopters)
Aircraft
Airships
Gliders
Balloons
Aircraft towing another Aircraft/Glider
Aircraft in Distress

Right-of-Way by order of aircraft direction.

Converging Aircraft: This is where two aircraft are approaching eachother at a right (90 degree) angle. The aircraft on the right has the right-of-way always.
Approaching Head On: If two aircraft are approaching on a head-on course, both aircraf will turn to the right to avoid a collision.
Overtaking Aircraft: If you are overtaking a slower aircraft at the same altitude, you will turn to the right to give the slower aircraft plenty of room. Likewise, if an aircraft is overtaking you, he will turn to the right to avoid you as well. The aircraft being overtaken has the right-of-way.
Landing Aircraft: If two or more aircraft are descending for landing at the same airport, the aircraft that is lower has the right of way, and because of this, may land first.. Do NOT take advantage of this and use it to cut people off because you're in a hurry. You can wait three more minutes to zip around the pattern.

Traffic Patterns

During your online flying career, you will encounter many uncontrolled airports that require you to fly a traffic pattern, or when practicing landings at a controlled airport, you will remain in a traffic pattern. Unless otherwise indicated in the Airport/Facillity directory or on your sectional chart, all turns in a traffic pattern are made to the left. You will find right hand patterns at certain airports due to noise abatement, paralell runways, or other reasons. Some airports will operate dual traffic patterns if they are really busy, or you may request right traffic if ATC permits it. The diagram below shows a standard left-hand traffic pattern in detail.

Traffic Patterns should be flown the same each time you do them, or you should at least try to fly a uniform pattern. Keep the downwind leg no more than 1/2 mile out from the runway of intended landing.

When you enter a Traffic Pattern for landing, it is standard practice to enter either on the downwind or the upwind at a 45 degree angle in the direction of the traffic flow for that runway.

Also, for most aircraft, the TPA or Traffic Pattern Altitude is 1,000 feet above ground level. For example, if your airport has an altitude of 400 feet above Sea Level, then you should fly the pattern at 1,400 feet indicated on your altimeter.

Remember, for the optimum distance and from the airport, and to fly an accurate traffic pattern, always turn from Crosswind to Downwind and Downwind to Base at a 45 degree angle from the end of the runway. When you're turning Base to Final, you want to turn it at about 10 degrees from the runway, and make it a nice, smooth 30 degree turn if you're in a light aircraft.

Flying a pattern varies with each type of aircraft. A 737 might need to fly a TPA of 2,000 feet AGL and a much larger distance may be needed from the airport, as a 737's approach speed is much greater than a Piper Warrior's.

We hope you have enjoyed this VFR guide. Hopefully it has helped you determine the difference between IFR and VFR, and has proved helpful in your online aviation career.