Instrument Meteorological Conditions

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Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) are meteorological conditions, the flying by instrument and therefore under the rules for the instrument flight make (Instrument Flight Rules, IFR) is required. Basically, three requirements must be met in order to be able to safely carry out a flight in IMC:

  • The pilot must have a valid instrument flight license
  • The aircraft must be certified to fly in Instrument Meteorological Conditions
  • The flight takes place under instrument flight rules (IFR) ( flight plan , monitoring by air traffic control )

If at least one of the three prerequisites is not met, a weather change from Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC), in which flying is possible according to visual flight rules , to instrument conditions can trigger an unsafe situation. In addition, flying into IMC is then illegal. Unintentional or reckless flying into IMCs is a cause of serious accidents in general aviation . Continuing to fly under the conditions of the IMC, in particular a lack of view of the horizon, leads to disorientation about the flight position and altitude in pure VFR pilots, which can lead to incorrect control inputs and then to loss of control or collision with the surface, the latter in aviation language as controlled flight into terrain (CFIT).

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Maybe it'll be fine" - introduction to IMC . In: Flugunfalluntersuchungsstelle at the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (Ed.): Flugunfallinformation (=  Flugunfallinformation ). Braunschweig September 1984 ( bfu-web.de [PDF; accessed April 15, 2020]).