Two Miles in Class G After Dark
You are planning a night cross-country with a student: 65 nm, departing 40 minutes before the end of evening civil twilight, arriving roughly 25 minutes after it. The destination airport lies in Class G airspace from the surface up to 1,200 ft AGL, with Class E above. Traffic pattern altitude is 800 ft AGL. The 55-minute-old METAR reports wind 21008KT, visibility 2 SM in light rain and mist, ceiling 2,800 ft overcast, temperature 12°C, dew point 11°C. The student says, "Two miles is fine - in Class G we only need one mile and clear of clouds."
1. Is the flight legal as planned? Identify the specific rule that governs and show why the student's statement is wrong.
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No. The student has quoted the daytime row of the table.
For VFR in Class G airspace at or below 1,200 ft AGL:
- Day: 1 SM, clear of clouds.
- Night: 3 SM, and 500 ft below / 1,000 ft above / 2,000 ft horizontal from clouds.
"Night" for this purpose is the period from the end of evening civil twilight to the beginning of morning civil twilight. Arriving 25 minutes after the end of civil twilight puts the arrival squarely in night, so the required visibility is 3 SM. The reported 2 SM does not meet it, and no amount of cloud clearance fixes a visibility shortfall.
Note also that the rule is written in terms of flight visibility, not the reported ground visibility - but with 2 SM reported and rain and mist over the field, there is no honest argument that flight visibility is 3 SM.
2. Suppose the schedule is moved up so the arrival is 30 minutes before the end of evening civil twilight. Re-evaluate the flight, including cloud clearance at pattern altitude.
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Now the day row applies: 1 SM and clear of clouds. The reported 2 SM satisfies the visibility requirement.
Cloud clearance: ceiling 2,800 ft AGL means the cloud bases sit at field elevation + 2,800. At pattern altitude of 800 ft AGL the airplane is 2,000 ft below the bases - comfortably clear of clouds, and there is no requirement for 500/1,000/2,000 in the daytime Class G row anyway, only "clear of clouds."
So the flight is legal. It is not automatically wise. The relevant limits now are not the regulation's but yours: 2 SM in rain and mist at dusk, with deteriorating temperature-dew point spread (12/11), a wet runway and no horizon, is a scenario where the legal minimum and the smart minimum are far apart. The teaching moment is that "legal" answers a different question than "should we go."
3. How would you teach a student to determine which row of the VFR weather minimum table applies, without memorizing the table on faith?
Read the worked answer
Have the student answer three questions in a fixed order, out loud, every time, until it is automatic:
- What airspace am I in, at the altitude I am actually flying? Read it off the sectional: blue vignette for Class B, magenta vignette for Class C, blue dashed for Class D, magenta dashed for Class E to the surface, faded magenta for Class E starting at 700 ft AGL, and no tint at all for Class G at the surface.
- Is it day or night? Night begins at the end of evening civil twilight, not at sunset and not an hour after sunset.
- How high am I? In Class G that determines which of the three Class G rows applies; in Class E it determines whether the 3 SM row or the 5 SM row above 10,000 ft MSL applies.
The reason the table is shaped this way is worth stating once: where ATC is providing separation and the airspace is controlled, less see-and-avoid burden falls on the pilot; where nobody is separating you from anybody at night over unlit terrain, the requirement goes up. Once the student can explain why the night row exists, the table stops being arbitrary and starts being memorable. Finish by having them work the same field's minimums for day, night, and a 1,500 ft AGL cruise, so they see the answer change with altitude.