What is All information?

Its particularly a pilots nightmare: Youre sitting across the table from an FAA investigator trying to explain how your actions seemed reasonable at the time. Somehow you didnt know about the thunderstorm/icing/closed runway/TFR that the investigator has neatly printed out and was presumably public knowledge at least five minutes before you took off.The problem is really FAR 91.103. It requires that each pilot in command shall before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight. Thats a tall order. The next two subsections specify the minimum information that must be obtained. For every flight, this includes takeoff and landing distances. For IFR flights and those VFR flights not in the vicinity of an airport, the reg adds weather reports and forecasts, fuel requirements, alternates and known traffic delays.

Editorial Staff

Wednesday, April 01, 2015 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

FAR 91.103 legally obligates pilots to obtain "all available information" before every flight, making them responsible for knowing conditions, even for short VFR operations.
Pilots must use official, qualified sources for current weather (e.g., QICP providers), NOTAMs, and airport data, and update this information immediately before departure and for each subsequent flight leg.
Failing to stay current and informed can lead to FAA enforcement actions if negligence contributes to an incident, making thorough pre-flight preparation, in-flight vigilance, and documentation vital for defense.

See a mistake? Contact us.

It’s particularly a pilot’s nightmare: You’re sitting across the table from an FAA investigator trying to explain how your actions seemed reasonable at the time. Somehow you didn’t know about the thunderstorm/icing/closed runway/TFR that the investigator has neatly printed out and was presumably public knowledge at least five minutes before you took off.

The problem is really FAR 91.103. It requires that “each pilot in command shall before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight.” That’s a tall order. The next two subsections specify the minimum information that must be obtained. For every flight, this includes takeoff and landing distances. For IFR flights and those VFR flights not in the vicinity of an airport, the reg adds weather reports and forecasts, fuel requirements, alternates and known traffic delays.