"Peter Duniho" wrote in
:

"Andrew Sarangan" wrote in message
1...
If the destination does not have an instrument approach you must pick
an alternate.

If the destination has an instrument approach, then you don't need an
alternate unless the the weather is worse than 2000' ceiling or 3SM
vis +/1hr of the ETA. (ie if the forecast is worse than VFR then you
need an alternate).

The above is not "the process for choosing an alternate". It's the
process for deciding whether you NEED an alternate.

But you have to first decide whether you need an alternate before going
to the trouble of picking one.


You can't pick any airports as an alternate. Only a few airports
qualify as an alternate.

Wrong. Any airport qualifies, as long as the forecast is for VFR
conditions from the descent from MEA all the way to the ground.
Beyond that, lots of airports have instrument approaches and thus
qualify as an alternate under lower forecast conditions. Even in IFR
conditions, it's far from true that "only a few airports qualify as an
alternate".

Pete


Any airport does not qualify. Most of those airports have "A-NA" on the
chart, which stands for "Alternate - Not Authorized".

The thread was a follow-up to 'flying to hamvention' thread. If you look
at the Dayton area, there aren't any airports within a short distance of
DAY that does not have an "A-NA" on it.