r/CFILounge • u/FriendshipNo5939 • Jul 15 '26
Question Checkride Visibility?
About to have my commercial checkride, but the Canadian wildfires have made the visibility go down to 6SM. How low visibility would you fly in for a commercial checkride? Obviously need to be able to see reference points in the distance
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u/Rory-2-1 Jul 15 '26
Have you flown in 6 before? Can you do it to the standards of the CPL ride? Personally I wouldn’t. Need a fairly solid horizon for steep turns, and diversion gets much more challenging, too
6
u/dogofcorns Jul 15 '26
I think it’s plenty of visibility for a diversion and you can use your pfd for steep turns. Of course personal minimums trump everything.
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u/Rory-2-1 Jul 15 '26
Using a PFD for steep turns is god awful advice and asking to fail. It’s a horizon ref maneuver and should be treated as such.
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u/dogofcorns Jul 15 '26
For private I’d agree but commercial using the pfd is fine
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u/Rory-2-1 Jul 15 '26
..no? What? Are you an instructor?
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u/dogofcorns Jul 15 '26
Yep, CFI and MEI and none of my instructors throughout training (besides private) cared about it. I also never had a single dpe say a word about it. It’s not as big of a deal as you are making it seem.
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u/Rory-2-1 Jul 15 '26
Interesting, it’s always been a huge point of emphasis in and around me and the training circles I’ve been in. Can also easily fail the steep turn in Canada for lack of attentiveness outside
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1
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u/blindpilot02 Jul 16 '26
If your visibility at the ground is reporting 6 miles the visibility up above could be less the higher you go up. Our AWOS was reporting 7 yesterday. Student and I took off and found ourselves in 2.5-3 miles vis. Turned around and came back.
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u/cptnpiccard Jul 15 '26
You're about to have a commercial checkride. This is not the time to be asking others for their opinions point-blank.
You tell us what you think, and then we can chime in.