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What's the flight category?

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Sep 22, 2026

Runway 19 at Lincoln Park (N07) on a gray afternoon. The nearest weather reporting station is Caldwell (KCDW). KCDW 202114Z 00000KT 1 3/4SM BR OVC010 19/19 A2990 RMK AO2 CIG 006V012. What's the flight category?

AVFR

If you were asking whether a flight could legally happen here, that's a fair read — in Class G in the daytime you need 1 statute mile and clear of clouds, and 1 3/4 miles clears that. The catch is that flight category and VFR minimums are two different things. The category is a NWS weather-reporting convention, and VFR needs a ceiling above 3,000 ft and visibility better than 5 miles. Option C is the answer.

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BMVFR

You read the ceiling exactly right. OVC010 is a 1,000 ft ceiling, which is the floor of the MVFR band, so that half of the report really does say MVFR. The category is set by whichever of the two is lower, though, and 1 3/4 SM visibility falls in the IFR band (1 to below 3 miles). Option C is the answer.

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CIFR

That's it. The ceiling is MVFR, but the visibility makes it IFR. Well done.

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DLIFR

LIFR needs a ceiling below 500 ft or visibility under 1 mile. The ceiling in this report is overcast at 1,000 and the visibility is 1 and 3/4 miles. It's true the remark mentions the ceiling is fluctuating, but even at its lowest, it's still above 500 AGL. Option C is the answer.

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Pick an answer. You can try as many as you like.

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The explanation

C. IFR

The categories

The AIM (7-1-7) sets the flight categories by ceiling and visibility:

  • LIFR: ceiling below 500 feet and/or visibility below 1 mile.
  • IFR: ceiling 500 to below 1,000 feet and/or visibility 1 to below 3 miles.
  • MVFR: ceiling 1,000 to 3,000 feet and/or visibility 3 to 5 miles.
  • VFR: ceiling above 3,000 feet and visibility above 5 miles.

The worse of the two decides

OVC010 is a 1,000 foot ceiling, which is the floor of the MVFR band. But the visibility, 1 3/4 statute miles, falls in the IFR band. The category is set by whichever is lower, so this report is IFR.

Reading the details

1 3/4SM is one and three quarters miles. The whole number and the fraction are written with a space between them. At 3/4 of a mile it would be LIFR. The remark CIG 006V012 says the ceiling is varying between 600 and 1,200 feet. The category comes from the body of the report, but either way the visibility holds it at IFR.

Category isn't the same as legal

Flight category is a weather-reporting shorthand, not a rule. Whether a VFR flight is legal depends on the airspace and 91.155. Class G in the daytime below 1,200 feet AGL needs 1 statute mile and clear of clouds, while Class E needs 3 miles and the 500/1,000/2,000 cloud clearances. Personal minimums are a separate conversation again. N07 doesn't report weather, which is why the report is Caldwell's, a few miles southeast.

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