VFR-On-Top

[Vik]

The pains of living in SoCal w/ 300days of sunshine (not lately though) is a pain. I can't wait till summer comes back and we get the marine layer again.

Same here!! When I was doing my IR I got around 5 hours actual. And now I o up and most of the time they put me right above or right below the clouds. Or its just to bad to go up.

 

[Flyin Tony]

The pains of living in SoCal w/ 300days of sunshine (not lately though) is a pain. I can't wait till summer comes back and we get the marine layer again.

But the bad thing about that is.... It will burn off before I wake up

If its still around at 12:00 to 1:00 I should make it down there

 

[Vector4fun]

Jeff,

The only "problem" with this procedure is airspace boundry and traffic issues. Don't know what approach control you're dealing with. Are they located at the same field you fly out of? If not, do you have an RCO on the ground? I ask, because it's sometimes easiest to talk to the supe or a controller about it before doing it the first time. If you're just going to get a local IFR clearance to get on top, they will want you to stay in the lateral limits of their airspace. Otherwise, you may need to file so you're in the NAS. We do it here occasionally. We don't have a problem so long as we can keep a local IFR in our airspace, and clear of our DPs and STARs until they cancel. Neighboring facilities understandably don't like taking pointouts on IFR traffic that has no defined route or altitude.

I'm sure there's an area that will allow you to do all you want, you may just need to chat with them for 5 minutes and find out where it is...