How the VFR weather minima max out my brain

My problem has always been with memorization of numbers. Better yet, remembering numbers as they pertain to regulations only attribute to my inevitable aneurysm. I admit, for my PSTAR exam, I cranked the numbers into my brain only to find out I only remember half of them a few months later...

Clearly, I needed to find a way to retain this info. The only way I could do this was by finding an easier way to remember and pretend I understand the rationale behind those rules.

Here is the table straight out of CARs and AIM:

AIRSPACE		FLIGHT VISIBILITY	DISTANCE FROM CLOUD	DISTANCE AGL
Control Zones		not less than 3 miles	horizontally: 1 mile vertically: 500 feet	vertically: 500 feet
Other Controlled Airspace		not less than 3 miles	horizontally: 1 mile vertically: 500 feet	—
Uncontrolled Airspace	1 000 feet AGL or above	not less than 1 mile (day) 3 miles (night)	horizontally: 2 000 feet vertically: 500 feet	—
	below 1 000 feet AGL – fixed-wing	not less than 2 miles (day) 3 miles (night)	clear of cloud	—
	below 1 000 feet AGL – helicopter	not less than 1 mile (day) 3 miles (night)	clear of cloud	—
VFR Over-the-Top		not less than 5 miles	vertically 1000 feet and 5000 feet between layers	scattered cloud or clear at airport
Special VFR Flight		not less than 1 miles (fixed-wing) not less than 1/2 mile (helicopter)	clear of cloud	visual reference must be maintained

Here are lovely images I put together....can you believe it, I could not find one decent images on the Internet...so I had to do them myself.

Uncontrolled Airspace and Special VFR


Controlled Airspace and VFR Over-the-Top

Night in Uncontrolled airspace

Below you will also find some tips. I can't take the credit for some of those as they come from one of of the best online resources especially when preparing for the PSTAR exam - Robyn's Flying Start .

1. Vertical/Horizontal/Visibility - first two are about distance from cloud
2. 500'/2000'/1 miles - uncontrolled airspace minima above 1000AGL
3. 500' vertically - is the norm across the board except when below 1000 AGL in uncontrolled airspace
   
4. Multiply everything by 3 to get the numbers for controlled airspace except for the 500' - you get 500'/1 mile/3 miles (2000 feet times three is 6000 or 1 nm
5. As the conditions most likely diminish for the minima to drop to below 1000 AGL in uncontrollable airspace,
6. For Special VFR Flight - remember half the minima requirements of uncontrolled airspace under 1000 AGL
7. VFR Over-the-Top - I don't have a good one...5 miles min visibility with 1000 and 5000 feet from cloud minima respectively?....that's just over the top!
8. Night and Day in controlled airspace is treated the same
9. Multiply the visibility by 3 in uncontrolled airspace at night, everything else remains the same as during day
   

I hope you find these useful. DO you have other tips to remember? Make sure to comment.

References

• CARs 602.114
• CARs 602.115
• CARs 602.116
• CARs 602.117