August 12, 2004

Interactive Quiz #84:
Special VFR

Want to feel special inside controlled airspace? Request a Special VFR clearance. While your VFR buddies scratch their headsets, you'll scud-run with FAA approval. Let's review the SVFR rules to see how special you really are.

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer the questions as best you can, then click on the "Score my quiz answers" button to see your score and read the explanations. If you don't like your score the first time around, you can change some of your answers and resubmit. To get the most out of this quiz, we suggest you keep trying until you get a perfect score.

NOTE: When more than one answer is true, only the most complete, correct answer will be scored as correct. The answers are assumed to apply within the United States unless otherwise noted.

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1. You're on the ground at Monterey Peninsula Airport (MRY) in Central California (see chart below). You've spent the day hanging out at Pebble Beach with Clint Eastwood, playing golf and saving whales, and now you'd like to depart VFR in your Cherokee (fixed wing, single-engine airplane). Unfortunately, the fog has rolled in and the ATIS reports ILS approaches in use with a 500-foot ceiling and two miles visibility. The Salinas Valley, a short distance to the northeast, reports clear skies and unlimited visibility. You have no instrument rating (and, inexplicably, Clint hasn't offered to put you up until morning.) Is a Special VFR (SFVR) clearance a departure option here?
a. No. Monterey is inside Class C airspace where SVFR is always prohibited.
b. Yes, but only if the tower controller initiates the request or SVFR procedures are announced on the ATIS.
c. No. SVFR is prohibited when IFR operations are in progress (the ILS, in this case).
d. Yes. But you must request SVFR.

	MRY Class C Sectional Chart (click graphic for larger version)

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2. You dither too long researching the SVFR procedures in the AIM, and when you finally decide to call the tower for a clearance, the ATIS reports visibility 1/2-mile in fog. Your buddy Clint, a helicopter pilot, makes your day and offers to fly you home (it's so like him) in his 'copter. He's not required to file an IFR flight plan because helicopters can operate SVFR with visibility less than one mile (assuming all other requirements are met).
a. True
b. False

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3. Fog is funny stuff, and faster than you can say, "... on little cat's feet," the visibility increases to five miles. You decline the offer for the 'copter SVFR escape and reload the Cherokee. You plan to go SVFR from Monterey Airport, up the coastline toward reported clear conditions. The Monterey Airport ceiling is still low (500 feet) but now that the sun has set you can see car lights twinkling along the freeway on your proposed route. Is SVFR a legal (forget smart, for the moment) option here?
a. Yes. Just ask ATC.
b. Yes. If you're instrument rated.
c. Yes. If you're instrument rated and the aircraft is instrument-equipped.
d. No. It's after sunset. SVFR is for daytime only

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4. Having mastered SVFR operations in northern California, you depart for southern California VFR and arrive in the Los Angeles area around noon. The sun is bright above the smog. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) reports an 800-foot broken ceiling with 2 miles visibility. Is ATC likely to honor your request for a SVFR clearance if arriving from the north? Refer to the chart below and choose best answer.
a. No. Controllers can't talk when laughing so hard.
b. Yes. The note "NO SVFR" means special VFR is only permitted from the North (NO).
c. No. The note "NO SVFR" means special VFR isn't permitted.
d. Yes. SVFR is allowed from the north provided you use the ILS.

	LAX Sectional Chart (click graphic for larger version)

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5. Special VFR is only available at airports with control towers in operation.
a. True
b. False

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6. Air traffic controllers give Special VFR (SVFR) operations the same priority as IFR operations inside controlled airspace.
a. True
b. False

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7. When cleared into, out of, or through the lateral limits of controlled airspace (Class B, C, D, or E surface) via SVFR and in radar contact, if the radar approach controller assigns an altitude for the purpose of radar vectors, that altitude must be (pick the most complete answer):
a. At the MVA (Minimum Vectoring Altitude) or MIA (Minimum IFR Altitude).
b. At or below the MVA (Minimum Vectoring Altitude) or MIA (Minimum IFR Altitude).
c. 1000 feet above the MVA (Minimum Vectoring Altitude) or MIA (Minimum IFR Altitude).
d. 500 feet below any IFR traffic and at or below the MVA (Minimum Vectoring Altitude) or MIA (Minimum IFR Altitude).

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8. Imagine you're at 4,500 feet MSL, westbound within the lateral limits of a Class C chunk of airspace, below its upper limits, which in this case tops out at 6,000 feet MSL. In other words, you're inside the magenta-lined airspace on a sectional chart. The core airport's ATIS reports few clouds at 3000 feet and 10 miles visibility; it's a nice VFR day at the airport. FAR 91.155(a) says you must remain 500 feet below, 1000 feet above, or 2000 feet laterally from those few clouds in your path. SVFR would allow you to operate merely clear of clouds, so can you request and can ATC issue a SVFR to you?
a. Yes, if you can't maintain basic VFR.
b. No. SVFR is only authorized when the field is IFR.
c. Yes, if you declare an emergency.
d. No. Surface visibility determines if SVFR is available.

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9. At an airport with an operating control tower located within the lateral limits of Class D airspace -- your basic towered airport -- SVFR is generally available to exit, enter, or transition through the airspace when the weather doesn't allow basic VFR. But what about just hanging around the traffic pattern to shoot touch-and-goes? Is the tower controller authorized to issue SVFR clearances to traffic in the pattern when basic VFR conditions aren't available?
a. No. SVFR by nature is designed to get transient traffic on course.
b. Yes. The tower controller can issue a SVFR clearance for a location and/or for a time period.
c. No. All SVFR clearances must include a specific route, and pattern traffic can't be controlled closely enough.
d. Yes. Controllers -- besides all being good-looking -- have godlike powers and can approve anything they want.

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10. By now we agree that fixed-wing, SVFR, Part 91 operations require visibility of one statute mile, and usually the control tower or the AWOS/ASOS reports the vis. But what if you're at an airport within Class E surface area (no control tower) and you wish to depart SVFR, but the ASOS/AWOS is out of service (OTS)? Are you SOL (Sorry, outa luck)?
a. Yes. Ground visibility must be officially reported for SVFR departures.
b. Yes, unless an airborne aircraft issues a pirep of one-mile flight visibility to ATC.
c. No, provided the forecast is for improving conditions.
d. No. Flight visibility can be reported by the departure pilot as seen from the cockpit on the ground in takeoff position.

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