Safe SVFR is much like safe sex...come prepared
Just as the biker can best protect himself from automobiles through knowledge of their performance capabilities and rules, so can the VFR/SVFR pilot benefit from knowledge of IFR. Stay clear of IFR approaches, check points and altitudes. Under SVFR the VFR pilot is actually flying in IFR conditions. Normally, SVFR flights are required to remain clear or denied takeoff clearance if an IFR flight is present. IFR flights have priority. If the VFR pilot will listen carefully on the radio he will hear IFR flights being given specific reporting points and routes. Become familiar with both the routes and points so as to remain clear or know where to look for traffic.
SVFR is a good thing to keep in mind for landing if the weather turns bad on you. If you can't do IFR and ATC won't allow VFR, requesting SVFR can get you down safely. I makes me wonder whom, in his right mind, would ask for an SVFR at night if he already has an instrument rating? A pilot who is so doubtful of his remaining fuel that he wants the quickest way in could well opt for the SVFR.
SVFR is a very useful way for the qualified pilot to make better use of his aircraft and the airspace. Qualified in this instance has nothing to do with total experience or ratings. SVFR qualified means knowledgeable. One thing about SVFR is that it may be allowed when conditions are below minimums for an IFR approach, but still be legal to land under SVFR! There are many circling IFR approaches, which require visibility better than a mile. The expectation of a successful landing or VFR conditions requires that the pilot get the best weather information. Listening to local aircraft communications and active participation or queries should influence your flight decisions.
SVFR should never be attempted unless the pilot is VERY familiar with the airport and surrounding area. You must know well all arrival checkpoints from ten miles out right to the airport. You MUST know where you are at all times in relationship to airspace, obstacles, and route. You must know the location and altitudes of all obstructions along the route. You must know what you are doing before SVFR becomes a reasonable option. If you are going to fly under the weather, fly to the right side of valleys and roads. Flying in SVFR conditions requires that you get some experience and training in your area's specific requirements. Again, if your experience has never included SVFR with an instructor do not try it alone the first time.
SVFR should be part of your training experience. SVFR is not something you should learn on your own. A pilot should never, repeat never, attempt to use SVFR until he has made several flights with an instructor or pilot who has made SVFR flights in the area and who knows both the legal and safety requirements involved. Instructors should take students who live in coastal regions subject to avection fog on several SVFR flights. It is important to experience, first hand, the limitations and potentials of SVFR flight. Many FBO's insurance limit non-instrument rated pilots to the basic VFR weather minimums (i.e., no specials).
No pictures or words can ever take the place of an actual VFR flight in marginal conditions. On the last day of September, just before my medical ran out, I took my student out to expose him to an airport of very mixed aircraft use.
Coming home we were surprised to hear that the airport was below VFR minimums on the ATIS. The forest fires of Northern California had spread smoke over the entire area and reduced visibility to about two miles. The magenta and blue transition areas are 'turned on' when 3-mile visibility does not exist or cloud clearance cannot be maintained.
The VFR options are to get above the conditions or get below them. We selected the below option and initially had to approach the airport from the East within 1200 feet of the ground (blue. When within 1200 feet of the ground VFR flight is allowed with only one-mile visibility.
Because of the arrival direction we found it necessary to cross from the 1200-foot area into the 700-foot area. This meant that we had to fly closer to the ground. There is a wide area of the S.F. Bay region all the way up to Sacramento that is magenta. We had two-mile visibility but had to get a SVFR clearance into the airport. We had to circle outside the Class Delta airspace within 700 feet of the ground for about ten minutes before the controller was able to fit us into the IFR mix.
SVFR is a relatively safe and benign process if the pilot maintains situational awareness and knows the SVFR procedure. You must know whether you are in a blue or magenta transition area, you must know the boundaries of where they might meet as well as the exact dimensions of the tower-controlled airspace. My home field has only a 3.1 nm circumference with an extension to the VOR. You must set yourself up so that the controller knows that you know where you are, he knows where you are and how long it will take you to get on the ground.
When visibility is less that three miles or VFR cloud clearance cannot be maintained then only one aircraft at a time is allowed in the Class Delta airspace unless they are in visual contact of one with the other.
It is vital that every student pilot be exposed to this experience because having the experience without an instructor aboard can be rather traumatic. Interestingly, it is possible to get into an airport under SVFR when IFR traffic cannot get in at all. This occurs when the SVFR pilot is able to come in below the cloud deck while IFR aircraft descending through the clouds do not break out at minimum altitudes so they can't land.
Every airport will have slight differences of altitude and space restrictions caused by letters of agreement with the local radar facility. Under avection fog conditions getting in under the fog can be easy with unlimited visibility and a 200' ceiling.
Radiation fog may make a low-level arrival impossible so your SVFR clearance will call on you to report over the airport in VFR where you can see the runway straight down below. You will then be allowed SVFR entry spacing permits or even when you can see the other aircraft.
Special Visual Flight Rules--SVFR
SVFR is not a deviation of the FARs. It is a replacement of another FAR standard. The pilot must request SVFR. ATC cannot suggest that you ask for SVFR. ATC can only ask what your intentions are. SVFR requires an ATC clearance. Whenever a pilot in Classes B, C, D or E airspaces cannot proceed in VFR conditions a SVFR ATC clearance may be requested and given where ATC facilities can provide an adequate level of safety. When conditions outside the controlled airspace have the required VFR visibility or in Class G airspace of one mile and you can remain clear of clouds. You can fly in the clear above a Class E airport that is below VFR minimums. The clearance allows you to depart controlled airspace fly to VFR conditions.
SVFR is available in the vertical footprint of Class C, Class D and Class E surface areas up to 10,000 feet that is not designated as NO SVFR. No SVFR clearance can be given if visibility is less than 1 mile. Morning flying in the fall and winter often requires that a departure be made under SVFR. If the visibility is officially reported at less than three miles or the ceiling less than 1000 feet, flight conditions are declared to be below VFR minimums and any flight other than IFR requires SVFR clearance. During the day this is indicated by operation of the airport beacon. No SVFR clearance can be given if visibility is less than 1 mile. A SVFR clearance is needed to depart or enter a control zone that is below VFR minimums.
SVFR is not a temporary Class G airspace, either. In class G airspace, no separation is provided by ATC even with radar. Under SVFR the only separation provided by ATC is by clearing only one aircraft into the airspace at a time. Non-radar ATC has separation responsibility only when both aircraft are on the ground. Many pilots have a mistaken idea that under VFR, IFR and SVFR you always receive ATC separation services. Not so.
A SVFR clearance applies only to the lateral boundaries of a specific surface area. The minimums of such Class E, D, and C can be modified by ATC to those of Class G i.e. one mile visibility and clear of clouds. SVFR can only be issued when requested by the pilot when the issuing authority has one-mile visibility and prior to the aircraft making entry.
ATC must insure aircraft separation within the controlled area until such separation is successfully passed over to the pilot. The pilot should not lightly take such a passing of separation responsibility. A pilot who is exiting the lateral edge of a surface area MUST abide by the visual requirements and altitudes of this new airspace. This usually means that you must have three-mile visibility with VFR cloud clearance or be below 1200/700 AGL as appropriate.
The various airspace minima are aimed at making sure pilots can both fly to a destination and avoid other airplanes. SVFR is a way to reduce the separation burden of the pilot in really marginal conditions while leaving the responsibility. You still need to be able to keep the aircraft under control, figure out where you're going, and avoid hitting mountains and trees along the way.
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