Pilots: what are the regulations governing "alternate" airports for IFR flight?
My instructor asked me to find an answer to this. I really don’t even understand the question itself; I know the FARs say you have to have a 30-minute reserve of fuel (for day VFR ops.) or 45 minutes (for nighttime ops., or IFR for both day and night).
What does my instructor mean by this? Does this have something to do with required runway length or published approach procedures?
I’m just really bogged down studying for my instrument rating and don’t have the time or energy to go trawling through the FARs.
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April 17th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Great answer above, but I learned an easy "1,2,3" rule. Meaning that if 1 hour before or after your scheduled arrival time, if the ceiling is less than 2,000 feet and there is less than 3 statute miles visibility you need to file an alternate. Now if the alternate you file has a precision approach the weather there can be 600 ft ceiling and 2 miles vis. But if it’s non-precision then the ceiling has to be 800 feet with 2 miles again (this is only true when published alternate minimums have not been prescribed for the airport). Also, I should note that this is for airplanes, not rotorcraft.