On Top…Of What, Where?
Thanks for Joe Shelton’s article on VFR-on-top operations in the August, 2013 issue. Your information was excellent and quite helpful.
I have found VFR-on-top very useful out here in the mountainous western U.S., where MEA’s are high and some bumpy cumulus buildups make flying uncomfortable or even impossible at IFR altitudes in my aircraft.
When in these conditions, I’m often under a scattered or broken cumulus layer, requesting VFR-on-top. I then have used hemispheric altitudes and assigned routing, but these are often below MEA’s, which are often governed by terrain well away from my route. My question concerns the legality of flying in good VFR conditions but below the MEA while VFR-on-top. I am easily able to avoid terrain with approved heading changes in visual conditions, so am comfortable doing this. What are your interpretations?
Readback: October 2013
Key Takeaways:
- VFR-on-top operations lack explicit regulatory guidance on minimum altitudes beyond standard VFR hemispheric rules; pilots are ultimately responsible for terrain separation.
- Pilots can generally shorten outbound legs in distance-based holding patterns unless ATC provides specific instructions, but verifying with ATC is recommended practice.
- The Vertical Descent Angle (VDA) on non-precision RNAV approaches is a mathematical construct for descending to the MDA and does not guarantee obstacle clearance below the MDA to the runway.
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