The harder rating to obtain out of the these two is IFR. At night, pilots need to hold an instrument rating as pilot-in-command and be operating an IFR-certified airplane. In the daytime, you must have at least one mile of flight visibility and clear of clouds. An SVFR flight is a VFR flight that’s cleared by air traffic control to operate within a control zone that’s normally below visual meteorological conditions. Special Visual Flight RulesĪnother subset of normal VFR rules is Special Visual Flight Rules (SVFR). For those without an instrument rating, you may not want to take off when the conditions are MVFR, as it’s best to fly IFR and avoid the poor flying conditions. So, if the cloud bases are at 3,000 feet, you have to fly at 2,500 feet.
No matter what the terrain is like, you have to stay 500 feet below the clouds so you can avoid descending IFR traffic.
Pilots must maintain VFR cloud clearance in Class E airspace, at 700 or 1,200 feet AGL. If an airport is abiding by Marginal Visual Flight Rules (MVFR) then it has ceilings from 1,000 feet to 3,000 feet and/or three to five miles of visibility. Early on in flight school, a student pilot must master general areas of expertise as it pertains to the correct general operability of an aircraft under VFR.Īdditionally, there are two subsets of VFR, discussed below, that come into play under certain circumstances. This means that the pilot needs to be able to see in front of and around the aircraft while flying. Since air traffic control is not responsible for keeping VFR airplanes separated, it’s up to the pilot-in-command to avoid a collision. VFR essentially exists to ensure that pilots flying visually don’t lose visibility up in the clouds and crash into each other. Under VFR rules, you’re also responsible for being able to see other aircraft, avoiding collisions and maintaining minimum horizontal visibility of three to five miles. While we know that VFR stands for Visual Flight Rules, the term actually refers to a set of rules created by the FAA for flight in VMC, or “visual meteorological conditions.” Basically, VMC defines at what time and in which conditions you are allowed to fly with a VFR pilot rating.įor example, you cannot fly through heavy clouds, and in some types of air space, you have to be able to see the ground. When you first start flight school, VFR is the set of rules you’ll learn initially. Let’s explore how these two terms and methods of flying differ and why they’re important to you as a pilot.
If you don’t know exactly what these mean, don’t feel too bad – even veteran pilots can sometimes use simple aviation terms incorrectly. VFR requires a ceiling greater than 3,000 feet AGL and visibility that’s greater than five miles.Įven though instrument flying may seem like a confusing concept at first, especially if you’re just starting flight school, it becomes more clear when you learn the difference between the two sets of rules. IFR requires a ceiling less than 1,000 feet above ground level (AGL) and/or visibility of fewer than three miles. With respect to aircraft performance, a ceiling is the maximum density altitude an aircraft can reach under a set of conditions, as determined by its flight envelope.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) defines weather-related flight conditions for VFR and IFR in terms of specific values for ceiling and visibility. While there are a number of other factors that influence the decision, it’s usually the weather that dictates whether you fly VFR or IFR. The type of flying you use, whether it’s IFR or VFR, will depend mainly on the weather conditions. Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) and Visual Flight Rules (VFR) are the two sets of rules for operating any aircraft. Let’s get started! Instrument Flight Rules vs. This article examines the similarities and differences between these important designations and what they mean to you as a new student. If you’re looking into flight training or are new to the industry, you have most likely come across the acronyms IFR and VFR, and you might be wondering what exactly they mean. The world of aviation has a lot of tricky, specialized terms and acronyms that can be confusing to keep straight at first.
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