Bigflyr,
Is it possible you have assumed that I am the same person as "spike" ? Your post is addressed to spike, but appears to be responding to things I wrote.
>>>>I don't give a rats @$$ how many people may agree or disagree with me.
I’ve never been a big fan of determining the truth by popular vote either....but, if a number of people are telling me I am wrong on a factual issue, I tend to very carefully examine my position to see if there is perhaps something I’m missing. That’s all I meant, not that something is true because a lot of people say it’s true.
>>>>Please don't talk to me like I haven't a clue.
Sorry, some of your statements led me to believe that you have some fundamental flaws in your understanding of some of the basic concepts.
Your comment; "....be contained entirely within class G airspace for lack of radar coverage" , seemed to suggest that you believed that Class G airspace was just airspace which didn’t have radar coverage. Surely you can agree that an understanding of the nature of Class G airspace is central to the discussion? It seemed to me that you didn’t understand it.
As far as my IFR/VFR explanation, I have gone back and re-read your comments several times. It still seems that you were saying that you may be IFR but not allowed to enter IMC, which obviously suggests lack of understanding of what IFR is..... If that’s not what you were saying, what were you saying.?
>>>What does not make sense to me is the one comment about doing an entire flight in "IMC" ( trust me, I know what that means) conditions from takeoff to landing without a clearance, without talking to anyone, without any kind of traffic separation other than maintaining IFR cruising altitudes, once level, has to make you wonder ....Can I do this? Is it safe? If its not, how can it be legal?
No, you do not have guaranteed separation. No, there is no clearance, clearances just do not exist in Class G airspace Yes, you are taking a chance that you may run into another airplane legally doing the same thing you are. Here’s what keeps you from colliding:
The Sky is very Big, your airplane is very small
Flying the designated altitudes helps reduce the possibility of collision. (at least head-on collisions).
Position announcing helps to resolve potential conflicts, unfortunately, there is no designated enroute advisory frequency, as there is in Canada and Australia. 122.9 is customarily used, as it is also the CTAF at the majority of airports.
Since the advent of GPS, many pilots have taken to offsetting their course to the right of a straight line between the airports or navaids. Some fly half a mile off, some fly a mile off, etc. obviously, this would be of no benefit if everyone offset by the same amount.
When we fly on one of these routes, we are required to contact and coordinate with the other operators and carriers who are approved for that route. This reduces the possibility of a collision enormously. The chance that someone other than a commercial operator would be flying along these routes in IMC is astronomically small. People just don’t hop in their planes and decide to fly to these places. There are no hundred dollar hamburgers. Most of the destinations are military radar facilities, or privately owned mines. Someone who was not an operator on contract would not be welcome at these places.
OK, is this safe, this boring around through the clouds without anyone ensuring separation for m others doing the same thing?
Well, what is safe? Safe is a relative term, life has risks.
I think that the risk of a collision in the clouds is very, very small. You have to keep in mind a couple of things:
This is in Class G, there isn’t much traffic. If there was substantial traffic, the FAA would classify it Class E and assume the responsibility for separating traffic. These are places where you can fly for a hundred miles and not see a single sign of other humans, no fields, no towns, no houses, no roads, no nothing. There just aren’t very many people, and as a result, not very many airplanes.
Personally I’d feel a lot safer flying at 2000+ feet above the terrain in the clouds between Koyuk and Buckland, than I would flying on an IFR clearance, in radar contact, on the airway, talking to center, at 4000 ft on a sunny day on the east coast of Florida. Airplanes are crashing into each other all the time in Florida, and it’s no wonder, they’re thicker than mosquitoes. By contrast, I don’t know of any collisions between 2 airplanes in IMC in Alaska, ever. I’ve done both, and I like the odds here a lot better.
Does this answer your questions?
CVSfly,
theoretically, at least, you could depart into a 500 foot ceiling at an airport where the controlled airspace starts at 1200 ft AGL and collide with an airplane legally flying in IMC. It’s unlikely, as it would have to be in a place that was almost perfectly flat with no obstacles higher than 100 feet for many miles for the other guy to be legal, but it’s at least theoretically possible. Anytime you are outside of Controlled airspace, you are not on a clearance, and separation is not being provided.
Yes, it’s possible for 2 aircraft to be operating in the same proximity in IMC. As with all things in life, there are risks.
Yes, we (my company) do have authorization for enroute operations in Class G airspace.
Vik,
I’m with Spike on this one, I’d be extremely skeptical of a FSDO as a source of truth.
Spike
No you may not fly at any altitude. 91.179 (b) specifies required cruising altitudes for flight in Class G airspace.
Desert Pilot,
If you are at the correct altitude, and your airplane is appropriately equipped, and your CFII is legally cirrent, and you are in Class G airspace, then Yes, you may punch through a cloud. If your Instructor says differently, he is wrong.
There, have I left anyone out?
regards
Its *REQUIRED* even in uncontrolled airspace.
