Dave Doe wrote in
. nz:

In article ,
says...
"chris" wrote in
ups.com:

On Apr 3, 2:53 pm, Jose wrote:
Really?? But you gotta be clear of cloud, surely!!!

Yes, you must be clear of cloud. Depending on the airspace, you
must be certain distances away. However, in the US you do not
need ground contact. You can fly VFR above a solid overcast.

It may not be too bright to do so, depending on circumstances.
However, it is legal, and often not a dumb thing to do.

Jose
--
Get high on gasoline: fly an airplane.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Makes me laugh, just a little.. People here have been telling me
how dangerous it is to fly without accurate fuel gauges coz you
might have a fuel leak or something like that and here you guys are
now telling me you can fly above a solid overcast.. What happens
if you have an engine failure?? Or get to your destination and you
can't get down?? I also wouldn't think you could navigate by using
your map if you can't see the surface, so that means using VOR or
GPS or something, which I was under the impression are supposed to
be secondary to your map reading! But what do I know... :-)


In clear VFR, would you fly over water, say between the
North and
South Island or, in the US, between Ventura and Catalina? If so, you
have no option on where to land should you get an engine failure. If
you would not such a flight in clear VFR, then you shouldn't fly over
a solid overcast. But if you would, what is the difference,
especially if you have CAVU and can see your destination?

The difference is you pack a liferaft.


Well, yeah, if you don't flip over on landing a fixed gear aircraft on
water and can get out before the aircraft sinks. Of course, this doesn't
address flying over the Sierra-Nevada's where there is no place but tree
tops to land, nor does it address the issue of an instrument rated and
current pilot overflying the California central valley with all airports
below you W0X0F when there is Tule fog. Are these all "No Go"? If the
prospect of an engine failure while overflying Tule fog in the central
valley is a "No Go" for VFR, then is it also a "No Go" for IFR if neither
you, your aircraft, nor the underlying airports are not all CAT IIIc rated?

There is always some risk. You need to decide what level of risk you
will accept. To me, overflying the central valley Tule fog isn't any more
of a risk than overflying the Sierra-Nevada in areas where I've only got
tree tops for landing and not that much altitude AGL.

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)