Crushing altitude question.

[teethdoc]

How long can you maintain an altitude not consistent with your direction (ie 7500ft west bound) to avoid weather. Does this change if you are on flight following. For instance you ask for a different altitude and they say "descend at your discretion but maintain vfr."

 

[Alexb2000]

If I am that close to weather I'd file and get a block. Soooo much easier when I'm going up and down through a system. I try not to fly wrong altitude VFR, especially with weather, it just puts all the traffic in a tighter area and makes a problem more likely.

 

[3393RP]

I thought crushing altitude was when the ground showed up...




Autocorrect wins again!

 

[SkyHog]

If I am that close to weather I'd file and get a block. Soooo much easier when I'm going up and down through a system. I try not to fly wrong altitude VFR, especially with weather, it just puts all the traffic in a tighter area and makes a problem more likely.

Not everyone has an IR.

To the OP - I have been here before. Usually, ATC will let you know when you've been there too long.

 

[teethdoc]

I thought crushing altitude was when the ground showed up...




Autocorrect wins again!

Ha ha! Just caught that.

 

[roncachamp]

How long can you maintain an altitude not consistent with your direction (ie 7500ft west bound) to avoid weather.

Before you're crushed? There's no weather exception for VFR cruising altitudes.

Does this change if you are on flight following. For instance you ask for a different altitude and they say "descend at your discretion but maintain vfr."

No, not if you're receiving just flight following, but the assignment of altitudes inconsistent with 91.159 by ATC is a part of Class B, Class C, and TRSA services.

 

[bobmrg]

How long can you maintain an altitude not consistent with your direction (ie 7500ft west bound) to avoid weather. Does this change if you are on flight following. For instance you ask for a different altitude and they say "descend at your discretion but maintain vfr."

Flight following is a workload-permitting service....it has no effect on any regulation. ATC has no regulatory control over your altitude as a VFR pilot in Class E airspace, so you don't need to ask for a different altitude because they cannot assign an altitude to a VFR flight....you will always get that reply from ATC. It's all between your conscience and the regulations.

Bob Gardner

 

[Alexb2000]

Not everyone has an IR.

To the OP - I have been here before. Usually, ATC will let you know when you've been there too long.

Sure, I didn't know if the OP had IR or not.

If you are VFR altitude is your choice ATC has nothing to do with it. I just wouldn't fly the wrong altitude for the direction.

 

[SkyHog]

Flight following is a workload-permitting service....it has no effect on any regulation. ATC has no regulatory control over your altitude as a VFR pilot in Class E airspace, so you don't need to ask for a different altitude because they cannot assign an altitude to a VFR flight....you will always get that reply from ATC. It's all between your conscience and the regulations.

Bob Gardner

Not true. FAR 91.159 says that to fly at the incorrect cruising altitude, you must have permission from ATC.

That means ATC is a pre-requisite for this type of deviation.

 

[roncachamp]

Not true. FAR 91.159 says that to fly at the incorrect cruising altitude, you must have permission from ATC.

That means ATC is a pre-requisite for this type of deviation.

That was added to the regulation when TCAs were created so that ATC could assign altitudes inconsistent with 91.159 to VFR aircraft within them. ATC is required to instruct such aircraft to resume altitudes appropriate for the direction of flight when Class B, Class C, and TRSA services are discontinued.

 

[midlifeflyer]

If you are VFR altitude is your choice ATC has nothing to do with it. I just wouldn't fly the wrong altitude for the direction.

Except in airspace like B or C where there is some degree of ATC control and a transponder requirement, I wouldn't either. After all, in Class E, just because you are receiving VFR flight following in an airplane equipped with a transponder doesn't mean there's no one going in the correct direction without either.

 

[poadeleted20]

That was added to the regulation when TCAs were created so that ATC could assign altitudes inconsistent with 91.159 to VFR aircraft within them. ATC is required to instruct such aircraft to resume altitudes appropriate for the direction of flight when Class B, Class C, and TRSA services are discontinued.

That may be true, but from a pilot perspective, the regulation:

Except while holding in a holding pattern of 2 minutes or less, or while turning, each person operating an aircraft under VFR in level cruising flight more than 3,000 feet above the surface shall maintain the appropriate altitude or flight level prescribed below, unless otherwise authorized by ATC:

...clearly states that if ATC says it's OK, it's OK for the pilot to do. As for what's OK for ATC to say, that's between the controllers and their bosses in ATO.

As for the original questions...

How long can you maintain an altitude not consistent with your direction (ie 7500ft west bound) to avoid weather.

There is no exception for weather or anything else other than "...while holding in a holding pattern of 2 minutes or less, or while turning..."

Does this change if you are on flight following.

There is nothing in the reg which grants an additional exception for flight following other than the phrase "...unless otherwise authorized by ATC", and I don't see "descend at your discretion but maintain vfr" as being an ATC authorization to stop at any altitude other than one which complies with paragraph (a) of that section. That said, while receiving flight following, I have in the past asked ATC if it was OK to be at a specific "wrong" altitude for whatever reason (usually weather), and generally been told "approved."

 

[Alexb2000]

That said, while receiving flight following, I have in the past asked ATC if it was OK to be at a specific "wrong" altitude for whatever reason (usually weather), and generally been told "approved."

Interesting. All I ever hear when someone requests an altitude VFR is, "altitude your discretion maintain VFR". Doesn't approving an altitude imply positive control?

 

[poadeleted20]

Interesting. All I ever hear when someone requests an altitude VFR is, "altitude your discretion maintain VFR". Doesn't approving an altitude imply positive control?

I'm just telling you what I've actually had happen. But if they just said "altitude your discretion," I would not take that as authorizing a non-91.159(a) altitude.