Supersport,
Your Scenario and your question do not match.
Your Scenario is that you are departing on a VFR flight to Barton and have ensured that is a safe course of action. During the flight, you may change the plan and route to Blackpool if the weather changes but by your own admission you do not expect that.
Thus your destination at the time of departure is Barton and that will only change if there is some unexpected change in the weather.
If you are the type of pilot that always plans a suitable altenate for your intended destination then will you have a suitable alternate for Barton?
Nothing illegal with departing for Barton at all provided that in your aircraft the 4 hours of fuel is suficient to fly the proposed route plus contingency and arive at Barton with sufficient reserve fuel.
Unfortunately in this real case, the pilots departed for Blackpool despite the weather saying that there was no chance of landing at Blackpool, they only had suficient fuel for that flight and thus they illegally failed to carry out the required pre-flight planning.
Some here think that simply becuse Exeter and many other places were VMC then the pre-flight planning was perfectly legal. I do not.
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Clealry a flight may not depart if it can't be completed safely.
Horray. Someone has seen the light.
But you are saying that the presence of forecast IMC on the preferred route of a VFR flight (ie. to B) means that, by definition, it can not be completed safely and that it may not legally depart
No. I never said preferred route, I said
intended route.
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Shytorque,
Nothing wrong with Y or Z flights or even I - V - I or V-I-V flights at all.
However, you are expected to plan appropriately and in your case the ops manual will make appropriate provision.
Don't forget that your VMC is IMC for fixed wing flyers.
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Seems that there will still be people taking off and flying into mountains while IMC - those mountains clearly covered in cloud visible from the apron at the departure aerodrome and the intended route clearly passing through an area unsuitable for VFR flight.
They had lots of fuel on board and there were several airports and routes that were VMC
Some say that there is nothing wrong with drawing the line along the map through an area with elevations above 3000ft and ceilings less than 2000ft and intending to fly that route.
Until pilots sit up and comply with the legal requirements for VFR flights to plan correctly and clearly show that the intended route does not intend to be in IMC we are going to regularly see people killed.
Regards,
DFC