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 gather "all available information" before *every* flight, not just minimums, as failure to do so can lead to serious FAA enforcement actions if negligence contributes to an incident.
Pilots must rely on qualified, current online sources (e.g., QICP weather, FAA.gov for NOTAMs/charts) for pre-flight briefings, as outdated paper information is insufficient and unacceptable.
Timely information is crucial; pilots should perform last-minute checks before takeoff, update for each flight leg, and document their efforts (e.g., traceable briefings, PDFs) as a key defense against "careless and reckless" charges.

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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.