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4 Answers

Class A airspace

Asked by: 6745 views Airspace

Since you must poses an instrument rating to fly in Class A airspace and rely on instruments for navigation in Class A, can you log time flown in Class A as instrument time? I think the answer is no, if you are not in IMC but I could not find the answer anywhere so I figured I would ask.

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4 Answers



  1. Julio on Mar 20, 2012

    You can if you are in IMC conditions, also you can log it if you are “under the hood” that means soley manipulating the airplane with the instruments and with a safety pilot on your side

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  2. Bill Trussell on Mar 21, 2012

    Time logged as instrument time is no different in Class A airspace than any other airspace.  The time logging requirement is “solely by reference to instruments” under actual or simulated conditions rather than what airspace you are in or whether you are operating on an IFR flight plan.
    Class A airspace requirements for IFR flight plans is intended to segregate non-participating aircraft out of that airspace due to speeds and separation requirements only.
    You can log as instrument time any time you are flying solely by reference to instruments.  You can break this down into actual or simulated and log it for currency or training requirements, or not at all at your option.

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  3. Wes Beard on Mar 21, 2012

    The interesting thing about this question is not the regulation in §61.51(g)(1) stating what Bill said above but what the definition of actual instrument conditions mean?
     
    That regulation stipulates that two parts must be true for the pilot to log instrument time.  Either the airplane must be in actual conditions or the pilot is in simulated conditions AND the pilot is flying solely by reference to  instruments.  If the pilot is not simulating instrument conditions then they must be in actual conditions to log instrument time.
     
    The only definition of instrument meteorological conditions I can find is in the Pilot Controller Glossary.  IMC is expressed in terms of visibility, distance from cloud, and ceiling less than the minima specified for VMC.
     
    §91.155 Basic VFR weather minimums has visibility, distance from cloud and ceiling requirements for each type of airspace except Class A.  What does this mean?  I don’t know… Class A is either always in VMC conditions or it is always in IMC conditions irregardless of the visiblity or cloud distances.
     
    Perhaps others on this forum can weigh in with their thoughts on the matter.  I would be curious. 

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  4. Earl Kessler on Mar 24, 2012

    It seems simplistic, but IMC in Alpha is IN the clouds. There are no cloud clearance requirements above FL180 so it is really black and white.  If your windscreen is white, you log the time.

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