3 miles mist - take off?

What about when there are no reporting stations and no communication service? I take off regularly in limited vis conditions. I figure as long as it's good enough do a 180 and return I can take off to see what's out there.
 
If I'm going VFR and 3SM of vis, and staying low, I want to be in a plane that's doing not much more than a mile a minute.
 
VFR, no thanks. 3SM vis is brutal VFR, with poor ground reference. You will likely be unable to return to the airport in the event of a takeoff emergency. IFR, possibly, with the same caveat on emergency return if the field is below minimums. Ground fog can be deceptively dangerous. It can look good from above, with unacceptable visibility in it. But at least an IFR departure can conform to an ODP for obstacle clearance.

Ground fog in the valleys is common around Central NY in late summer and early fall. Every airport in the valleys will be fogged in with clear and a million above until late morning. You MIGHT get out, but not in to anywhere nearby.
 
Did it coming back from Oshkosh one year. Launched, thought things were too close, so I landed. Asked when things might clear up. LocLs said “October”. I just throttled back. What was I going to hit going 80? Wasn’t even that big a deal.

It is a slightly bigger deal in a faster airplane though. My Mooney doesn’t do 80. At least not terribly well, unless I leave the gear down.
 
chemgeek said:
VFR, no thanks. 3SM vis is brutal VFR, with poor ground reference. You will likely be unable to return to the airport in the event of a takeoff emergency.
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Three and mist is MVFR. There is no question you'll be able to return to the field if you have a problem on takeoff. The scenario isn't "IFR due to ground fog"...
 
kyleb said:
Three and mist is MVFR. There is no question you'll be able to return to the field if you have a problem on takeoff. The scenario isn't "IFR due to ground fog"...
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3 miles in mist, wind calm, sounds like excellent conditions for ground fog to me. Especially if there is a (likely) tight temp/dew point spread. The OP suggests in a followup post #39 that mist was due to ground fog. Not a VFR day for me. IFR gives you more options unless these conditions are widespread and sufficient to prevent return or takeoff alternates from being usable. Even departing IFR you are assuming additional risk until you can outfly these conditions.

When there is ground fog, visibility can be decent on the ground flying up through it, and totally unusable for landing, especially VFR. Therein lies the risk. The pilot must choose what level of risk to assume, even when flying "legal."
 
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