Pretty much every pilot has a “the weather changed on me quicker than expected” story. My first experience was as a student pilot on my first solo flight outside the pattern to the practice area.
My CFI had made it a rule that I had to call him before solo so we could discuss the weather and NOTAMs and also what I intended to do on that flight. The training was Part 61, and we were not using a syllabus, something that I regret in hindsight, although I understood that I needed to practice the skills I had learned.
I was west of the airport in VFR conditions when I noticed the ceiling starting to drop. A check of the automated weather at three airports—one to the south, one to the north, and my home field to the east—revealed the ceilings were dropping, and the altimeter pressure was falling.
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Uh-oh. That cold front I learned about that morning that wasn’t supposed to be here until late afternoon had arrived early. I returned to the airport, where my CFI was waiting for me. He was surprised at how quickly the weather dropped and happy I knew enough to return for landing.
I was training in the Seattle area in winter, mostly on afternoons when there was maybe a three-hour window for a VFR pilot before the temperature and dew point spread converged. The limitations on my solo endorsement read “must check ATIS/AWOS each time on downwind” and “flight will terminate when temp/dew point spread closes to within 4 degrees and dropping,” because that means fog, clouds, and mist are on the way.
The CFI made a point of taking me up in Marginal Visual Flight Rules (MVFR) conditions. The purpose of the flight was to pay special attention to the visibility in the pattern. When flying the pattern for each runway, I should be able to see particular landmarks when the visibility is at least 5 miles. If I couldn’t see the landmarks, it was time to return to land.
This technique is useful. I took it one step further, sitting down with a terminal area chart (TAC) and carefully measuring the distance between the airport runway and landmarks 3 and 5 sm away, respectively. When you’re at airport XYZ on downwind, and the water tower disappears, the visibility is below 5 miles. If you can’t see ABC mountain in the distance, the visibility is less than 3 miles, etc.
It can be a challenge to determine visibility from the air unless you are using metrics provided by GPS, so I’m a big fan of the plotter on paper technique.
Rotating Beacon in Daylight
Apparently there are some student pilots that equate the rotating beacon for the aviation version of a street light.
Back when it was socially acceptable to have free-range children, when the street and house lights came on, it was time to go home. The rotating beacon active during daylight means the airport is IFR, and if you’re a student pilot flying solo, you really should be on the ground—and it’s up to you to know that.
I mention this because of a cautionary tale shared by a chief CFI at an instructor meeting. It began with the phrase “teach your students what the rotating beacon means.”
According to the chief, the student was in the pattern practicing touch-and-goes, when the weather deteriorated. At pattern altitude the student could still see the ground around the airport, so he wasn’t too concerned. He figured if it got too bad, the tower controllers would tell him when it was time to come down.
As the story was relayed to us low-time CFIs, someone from the tower called the flight school to report one of our students was up in IFR conditions. One of the more experienced instructors grabbed a hand-held radio and used it to let the student know to make the next landing full stop.
The student was surprised by the commotion he had caused. He said he could see the runway from the pattern, so he didn’t think he was breaking any rules, although he did notice when the runway lights were suddenly lit up in the late afternoon. That was a new experience. He didn’t notice the airport beacon was activated until he landed.
What caused confusion, he said, was that when he called up the Automated Terminal Information Service (ATIS), there was no recording telling him what the weather was. “Because they were updating it!” his CFI told him.
Listen to the Tin Man
Automated weather will often be behind the actual conditions, but it’s better than nothing.
The ATIS is usually recorded and released at the top of the hour unless there’s a significant change in conditions, in which case a special ATIS will be released. Sometimes the updates can be almost comical.
I was in Renton, Washington, the day a significant winter storm was moving in. In between getting all the aircraft we could into hangars and using creative repositioning and extra tie-downs and chocks to secure the rest of the fleet, we listened to the ATIS. There were several “specials” released and on the last one, as the dark purple mass of clouds approached from the north, the person recording it let us know they’d had enough too, concluding the ATIS with “people, keep it on the ground!
Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) and Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) are used at nontowered airports or when the tower is closed. There are different levels of AWOS—AWOS-A through AWOS-4. The higher the number, the more information the unit relays. They can be accessed by using a specific radio frequency or by telephone. Smart pilots put that number into their mobile phones for future use and emergency reference.
It’s important that a student pilot understand that MVFR is an advisory category, not a legal restriction. However, the limitations published by the flight school and on its solo endorsements must be respected.
A review of National Transportation Safety Board accident reports show many happen when the VFR weather degrades much faster than the pilot anticipated.
You’ll find this information in Chapter 7, Section 1 of the Aeronautical Information Manual under “Categorical Ceiling and Visibility Conditions”:
- VFR: Ceiling greater than 3,000 feet and visibility greater than 5 miles
- MVFR: Ceiling 1,000 to 3,000 feet agl, visibility 3-5 miles
- IFR: Ceiling 500 feet to less than 1,000 feet and/or visibility 1-miles
Teaching respect for MVFR rests on the CFI. You can work the pattern in MVFR, but heading out of it for maneuvers can be questionable. You don’t want to be the CFI in a VFR-only airplane who scud runs back to the airport.
Allowing learners to solo outside of the pattern on MVFR days comes down to flight school rules. Some prohibit student pilots from flying outside the pattern on MVFR days. No CFI wants to risk their ticket.