The Civil Aviation Safety Authority have regulations for how low aircraft can fly. These regulations require pilots fly no lower than 1,000 feet (ft) over built-up areas, or 500 feet over any other areas, unless they are landing or taking off.
The phrase "1000 feet above" means you are the one that's above the cloud, not the other way around.
Except with the written permission of the CAA, an aircraft shall not be flown closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle or structure.
In general, when in Class E, D or C, you must remain 500 feet below, 2,000 feet laterally or 1,000 feet above any clouds. This is to allow an IFR aircraft popping out of the clouds sufficient time to see and avoid a VFR aircraft.
Low level clouds are generally based at or below 6,500 feet above ground, mid-level clouds are generally based between 6,500 feet and 15,000 feet above ground, and high level clouds are generally based more than 15,000 feet above ground.
At night in Class G airspace at and below 1,200ft AGL, a pilot must have forward flight visibility of 3sm, as well as a vertical distance of 1,000ft above, 500ft, below, and 2,000ft horizontally from clouds at all time. While it should go without saying, all these minimum VFR weather minimums are just that—a minimum.
(Instructor added note: FL 600 or Flight Level 600, means a flying altitude of 60,000 ft. MSL, for more details, check out this website .) Class B. Generally, airspace from the surface to 10,000 feet MSL surrounding the nation's busiest airports in terms of airport operations or passenger enplanements.
12.04 What distance from cloud shall an aircraft maintain when flying below 1,000 feet AGL within uncontrolled airspace? At least 2,000 feet horizontally and 500 feet vertically.
What is the distance for flying aircraft set by the regulations? Commercial aircraft flying below 29,000 feet must maintain a vertical separation of 1,000 feet. Any higher and the separation increases to 2,000 feet, except in airspace where Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) applies.
For larger aircraft, typically people use some form of the 3/6 Rule: 3 times the altitude (in thousands of feet) you have to lose is the distance back to start the descent; 6 times your groundspeed is your descent rate.
First priority is to keep the aircraft safely in the air (Fly) Next priority is controlling where the aircraft is going (Navigate) Know where you are at all times. Know where you should be. Know where the terrain and obstacles are.
A general rule of thumb for initial IFR descent planning in jets is the 3 to 1 formula. This means that it takes 3 NM to descend 1,000 feet. If an airplane is at FL 310 and the approach gate or initial approach fix is at 6,000 feet, the initial descent requirement equals 25,000 feet (31,000–6,000).
(c) Except as provided in § 91.157, no person may operate an aircraft beneath the ceiling under VFR within the lateral boundaries of controlled airspace designated to the surface for an airport when the ceiling is less than 1,000 feet.
§ 135.205 VFR: Visibility requirements.
(a) No person may operate an airplane under VFR in uncontrolled airspace when the ceiling is less than 1,000 feet unless flight visibility is at least 2 miles. (2) At night—1 mile.
VFR aircraft are separated from all VFR/IFR aircraft which weigh more than 19,000 and turbojets by no less than: 1 1/2 miles lateral separation, or. 500 feet vertical separation, or. Visual separation.
What Are The Minimum Visibility And Cloud Clearance Requirements For Solo Flights? The minimum visibility and cloud clearance required for solo flights are 1 Statute Mile and 1,200 feet AGL or less in the daytime. These weather minimums are outlined in § 91.155.
Airspace profile. Class A airspace is generally the airspace from 18,000 feet mean sea level (MSL) up to and including flight level (FL) 600, including the airspace overlying the waters within 12 nautical miles (NM) of the coast of the 48 contiguous states and Alaska.
Maximum Altitudes
With an appropriate clearance from the airspace controlling agency, flights higher than 400 feet AGL are allowed.
Flight Level (FL)
Strictly speaking a flight level is an indication of pressure, not of altitude. Only above the transition level (which depends on the local QNH but is typically 4000 feet above sea level) are flight levels used to indicate altitude; below the transition level feet are used.
For most modern commercial jets today, this is around 41,000 feet. The exact level will depend mostly on the engines' performance (it is designed to be the maximum that still allows efficient operation). Many large widebodies have a ceiling of up to around 43,000 feet (12,500 meters).
Ask the Captain: Reader questions about the SR-71
The Concorde flew up to 60,000 feet, and the all-time high flier was the SR-71 which could go over 80,000 feet. Some experimental airplanes flew higher, but they were rocket-powered and did not take off by themselves, so I am excluding them. Q: How fast can planes go?
Class E or G airport traffic pattern — 200 kias (recommended)
Class G airspace will always start at the ground and go up to 14,500′ msl as a maximum. The reason we put that in bold is because it is likely to appear on your written exam! In all reality, Class G airspace always ends well before 14,500′ msl due to another layer of airspace being on top of it.
Class G airspace (uncontrolled) is that portion of airspace that has not been designated as Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D, or Class E airspace. VFR Requirements. Rules governing VFR flight have been adopted to assist the pilot in meeting the responsibility to see and avoid other aircraft.