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Pilot guidelines - VFR
What's VFR?
VFR means Visual Flight Rules. It's a flight in which the pilot must be able to fly the aircraft by looking outside the windows having visual references. Pilot must be able to know where he is and must be able to see other aircraft in the vicinity.
Weather
In order to be able to fly VFR legally, specific weather minimums have been established. They are called VMC, or Visual Meteorological Conditions.
Airspace |
Visibility |
Distance from clouds |
Distance from ground |
|
Control zone |
3SM |
↔ 1SM |
↕ 500 ft |
|
Controlled airspace |
3SM |
↔ 1SM |
|
|
Uncontrolled airspace |
1000 ft AGL↑ |
1SM (day) |
↔ 2000 ft |
|
999 ft AGL ↓ |
2SM (day) |
Out of clouds |
||
999 pieds AGL ↓ |
1SM (day) |
Out of clouds |
||
As long as these minimums are encountered, any aircraft can fly VFR depending on type of airspace it is in. Indeed, it is prohibited to fly VFR in some classes of airspace. In others, it is mandatory to request the permission from ATC before entering. Also, in class E airspace, it is not necessary to contact ATC to fly VFR, but it might be useful to get flight following. Please note some ATCs on IVAO may be unfamiliar to classes of airspace and may require you to contact them even if in class E. In that situation, request flight following from him. Finally, separation management is different in each class of airspace, even though it is usually always the pilot's responsability to maintain visual separation from other aircraft. For more details, visit our classes of airspaces page.
Altitudes
VFR flights above 3 000 feet must be flown at appropriate altitude depending on direction of flight (westbound: even altitudes, eastbound: odd altitudes), at each thousand feet, starting at 3 500 feet.
It is prohibited to fly VFR above cities at less then 1000 feet AGL. It is mandatory to always fly at 500 feet or above from ground. These rules don't apply for special flights (police, etc.) as well as during takeoff / landing phases of flight.
Flight plan
Filing a flight plan is a mandatory procedure on IVAO for all VFR flights, even when doing circuits. In the Route section, you can put visual points, or even IFR beacons (VORs, NDBs,..). It is totally permitted for a VFR pilot to fly airways or IFR beacons to other IFR beacons. It is permitted for VFR pilots to use instruments to navigate. The difference is that he must not depend on it.
If you do circuits, put "CCTS" in the Route section.
For VFR planning purposes, it is important to use the publication called CFS (Canada Flight Supplement). It contains all the information needed on all canadian airports, as well as all preferred routing for VFR flights inbound and outbound to be followed at larger airports. CFS is available in Charts section of our website.
Weather conditions are getting bad...
It is possible to start a VFR flight in weather conditions that are VMC and becoming IMC in flight (Instruments Meteorological Conditions). This means that VMC minimums are not encountered anymore. It is prohibited to fly in IMC conditions while VFR. The best option might be different in each situation. Sometimes, it is better to immediately land at the nearest airport, or to go around the bad weather. If you enter IMC suddenly, it is always better to fly straigh forward and leveled. Do not fight against altitude changes due turbulence. It is strongly discouraged to try to turn around when in IMC, it may cause loss of orientation and loss of control of the aircraft.
Two other solutions are also available. If inside a control zone, it is possible to request a Special VFR authorization. The SVFR can be given by ATC in order for an aircraft to depart of land at an airport within a control zone, as long as the aircraft remains out of clouds and that the reported visibility is not less then 1SM (1/2SM for helicopters). SVFR is not permitted to takeoff at night, except for copters. Please note that since Jan 15 2009, SVFR will only be required when visibility is lower then 3SM. The ceiling criteria has been removed from requirements. That means a VFR flight can be performed when (example) visibility is 5SM with a ceiling at 800 feet, as long as the pilot is able to remain VFR. If he is not able, SVFR is required.
The other possible solution is to request an IFR clearance from ATC if you are qualified to fly IFR. At that point, you can fly in almost all weather conditions.
If no ATC is available and you need SVFR or IFR, consider yourself as SVFR or IFR with the authorization and fly according to those types of flight. Don't forget to amend your flight plan if you switch to IFR.