The other day I wanted to do some low flying but the controller would not give me permission as the airport was ifr. Being the stickler I am for realism, I asked for ifr clearance. I was given clearance, and had 30 minutes to make contact. Because I wanted to fly low and go where I wanted, I just didn't bother, which allowed me to fly to my heart's content, until of course I wanted to land, in which case I had to file an ifr plan. But instead I went to an uncontrolled airport, and just transmitted my intentions and landed. Sometimes I'll just cancel my ifr plan, of which atc asks me to confirm, I do, and then fly to my hearts content. I'm just wondering. In real life, would I be in violation of any flight rules? Or if you have your ifr standing, and are qualified to fly vfr or ifr, can a person do this in the real world?

There are all kinds of what ifs or scenarios that might allow one to do almost anything. The short answer is NO. If an airport is IFR it means the sky & visibility conditions are below the minimums for legal VFR flight (1000

Thanks Douglas...much appreciated.

Hi Douglas,".....you can legally fly around all you want with only 1sm visibility and clear of clouds...." This is only in the daytime and then only from the surface to 1,200' AGL. Class Golf can go as high as 14,500' (in the US), and this very low visibility and cloud seperation requirement gets more demanding as you either go higher, or fly at night-time.Also- you cannot file IFR in Class Golf. ATC has no responsibilty in this airspace. You could file on the ground at a Class Golf airport, but your clearance would be prefixed with "upon entering controlled airspace"Bruce.

Yes, you can cancel IFR at any time providing you are not in IMC conditions, and have the required cloud seperation and visibilities for the time of day, altitude and class of airspace you are in. Obviously you cannot cancel IFR in Class Alpha (at or above flight level 180 in the US).Bruce.

>Hi Douglas,>>".....you can legally fly around all you want with only 1sm>visibility and clear of clouds...." >>This is only in the daytime and then only from the surface to>1,200' AGL. Class Golf can go as high as 14,500' (in the US),> and this very low visibility and cloud seperation requirement>gets more demanding as you either go higher, or fly at>night-time.>>Also- you cannot file IFR in Class Golf. ATC has no>responsibilty in this airspace. You could file on the ground>at a Class Golf airport, but your clearance would be prefixed>with "upon entering controlled airspace">>Bruce.>Yup I mentioned day time with the 1sm in class G. You can file and depart in class g, but you are not under positive control until you hit controlled airspace (and are in radar contact). This is standard procedure as most uncontrolled airports are in class G (with E starting at 700' agl) you can most certainly file from G and even get a release from G. Only one aircraft can arrive or depart at a time and that