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jrh · October 20th, 2007, 08:50

Just curious, was this Class D tower in a radar environment or not? What I mean is, do the tower controllers have a radar display in the tower cab, or do they only have a pair of binoculars?

I used to operate out of a Class D airport with no radar coverage. In order to go SVFR in their airspace, you had to be the only traffic--no IFR aircraft coming or going, and no other SVFR aircraft. I *think* that's because there was no way to provide traffic seperation, therefore the entire Class D airspace needs to be "protected" until the SVFR aircraft reports they are clear of the airspace.

The reason I say this is to clarify the SVFR clearance has nothing to do with approaches to a parallel runway, etc. It doesn't matter what runways are being used or what approaches are being shot...the entire airspace has to be protected.

And as has already been said, you did the right thing by asking for an SVFR clearance and going elsewhere when you couldn't get one.

October 20th, 2007, 08:50	#13
jrh Old Skool Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: USA Posts: 1,744	Re: Special VFR Questions Just curious, was this Class D tower in a radar environment or not? What I mean is, do the tower controllers have a radar display in the tower cab, or do they only have a pair of binoculars? I used to operate out of a Class D airport with no radar coverage. In order to go SVFR in their airspace, you had to be the only traffic--no IFR aircraft coming or going, and no other SVFR aircraft. I think that's because there was no way to provide traffic seperation, therefore the entire Class D airspace needs to be "protected" until the SVFR aircraft reports they are clear of the airspace. The reason I say this is to clarify the SVFR clearance has nothing to do with approaches to a parallel runway, etc. It doesn't matter what runways are being used or what approaches are being shot...the entire airspace has to be protected. And as has already been said, you did the right thing by asking for an SVFR clearance and going elsewhere when you couldn't get one.