Airspace Clarification/Who Do You Call?

[farmrjohn]

Since Class Bravo clearances (or lack thereof) have been discussed recently here is a scenario that I'm puzzling over. Situation: There is a marine layer hugging the coast. You depart KMYF (MontgomeryGibbs) VFR to the east. MYF is reporting 1200 scattered with the clouds widely spaced, especially to the east. You go to KSDM (Brown) for fuel. While there KMYF unexpectedly goes to 1200 broken while at Brown and further east it remains 1200 scattered or better.

You can get to Sweetwater Reservoir in Class E avoiding Class B and maintain cloud separation. The clouds begin to close in towards broken after passing Sweetwater Reservoir. You can get to Lake Murry in Class G at 1100 agl with "more than 1 mile visibility and maintaining 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons". Just prior to Lake Murry Class E airspace begins, requiring 500' below and 2000' horizontally. You still need the 1000' above obstacles so would need a special VFR clearance to proceed back to MYF since and IFP popup is not an option. Who do you call (not Ghostbusters) for the clearance if you weren't using flight following? If you were using flight following, would approach or tower provide the special VFR. Of course there is no guarantee a special VFR clearance would be issued so diverting would be the backup plan.

 

[Shawn]

If not already on FF just call up tower with your request on initial callup. SVFR is only granted within the D airspace anyway...you are not gonna get it in E.

If you were on FF SoCal could check ahead and see if that would even be an option before you even get there.

 

[luvflyin]

Since Class Bravo clearances (or lack thereof) have been discussed recently here is a scenario that I'm puzzling over. Situation: There is a marine layer hugging the coast. You depart KMYF (MontgomeryGibbs) VFR to the east. MYF is reporting 1200 scattered with the clouds widely spaced, especially to the east. You go to KSDM (Brown) for fuel. While there KMYF unexpectedly goes to 1200 broken while at Brown and further east it remains 1200 scattered or better.

You can get to Sweetwater Reservoir in Class E avoiding Class B and maintain cloud separation. The clouds begin to close in towards broken after passing Sweetwater Reservoir. You can get to Lake Murry in Class G at 1100 agl with "more than 1 mile visibility and maintaining 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons". Just prior to Lake Murry Class E airspace begins, requiring 500' below and 2000' horizontally. You still need the 1000' above obstacles so would need a special VFR clearance to proceed back to MYF since and IFP popup is not an option. Who do you call (not Ghostbusters) for the clearance if you weren't using flight following? If you were using flight following, would approach or tower provide the special VFR. Of course there is no guarantee a special VFR clearance would be issued so diverting would be the backup plan.

Call the Tower. If they decide you need to call Approach they’ll tell you to. You cannot get to Lake Murray in Class G at 1100 AGL. The floor of Controlled Airspace there is 700 AGL. Check the shaded Magenta line that surrounds the entire San Diego area. Right at Lake Murray it turns into the Surface.

 

[Checkout_my_Six]

If tower does not have radar.....they won't do it.

I'd call approach....start off with flight following then request the IFR approach.

 

[luvflyin]

If tower does not have radar.....they won't do it.

I'd call approach....start off with flight following then request the IFR approach.

MYF Tower does have Radar. He said IFR pop up was not an option so I assume he’s not rated. But yeah, already being with Approach on Flight Following would take a lot of the mystery out of it. San Diego Approach is always begging pilots to do that in that area. Every event I’ve been to where they show up, it’s their number one topic.

 

[midlifeflyer]

Here's a very generic answer to "Who should I call?"

Any ATC facility servicing that airspace. Tower or TRACON doesn't matter. If it's the wrong one, they will give you the right one and perhaps even coordinate the transitions for you. Unless you have read all the LOAs between the facilities divvying up workload or learned them in another way, you really don't know who to call

My personal preference would be TRACON. But the only wrong answer is not calling because you are worried it's the wrong one.

 

[midwestpa24]

If not already on FF just call up tower with your request on initial callup. SVFR is only granted within the D airspace anyway...you are not gonna get it in E.

Don't know about this specific location, but you can indeed get SVFR for airports with Class E surface areas. Just takes a call to the controlling agency, but its a way to get in or out of a Class E surface airport if ceiling is less than 1,000 or vis is less than 3 miles.

 

[farmrjohn]

Call the Tower. If they decide you need to call Approach they’ll tell you to. You cannot get to Lake Murray in Class G at 1100 AGL. The floor of Controlled Airspace there is 700 AGL. Check the shaded Magenta line that surrounds the entire San Diego area. Right at Lake Murray it turns into the Surface.

Ah thanks, didn't pick up on the shaded magenta line that surrounds San Diego, bypasses Camp Pendleton, and extends to the LA area via Temecula as well. With a 700' floor for the Class E that would preclude fixed wing operations in Class G over most of the area with a 1200' cloud base since it's built up and requires the 1000' clearance.

I guess the question can be re-phrased to: Can/will SOCAL provide a special VFR clearance while in Class E airspace? If so, do they coordinate with the destination Class D or C airport for a continued special VFR clearance?

 

[luvflyin]

Ah thanks, didn't pick up on the shaded magenta line that surrounds San Diego, bypasses Camp Pendleton, and extends to the LA area via Temecula as well. With a 700' floor for the Class E that would preclude fixed wing operations in Class G over most of the area with a 1200' cloud base since it's built up and requires the 1000' clearance.

I guess the question can be re-phrased to: Can/will SOCAL provide a special VFR clearance while in Class E airspace? If so, do they coordinate with the destination Class D or C airport for a continued special VFR clearance?

I don't know. How that is handled varies from place to place. The facility with IFR Control Authority is the ultimate authority. This is SOCAL Approach. Some places have Letters of Agreement between Approach and Tower delegating it to Tower. This is more common with Helicopter SVFR than fixed wing. I don't know if MYF and Socal have one. That can be very busy piece of sky around there. I've gotten SVFR out of MYF before but never asked for it inbound. I'm guessing it's not easy to get one. SOCAL could of course give the Clearance. But if they have delegated the authority to Tower, they will have to get the Towers permission first.