Does it ever happen or is it allowed for a GA flight that starts out in VFR to switch to IFR at some point during the flight due to deteriorating weather?

I tried this (Not really knowing what to do) in the Grand Caravan (G1000). In the MSFS flight planner I selected a VFR flight from Abbotsford to Vancouver (26R). There was a magenta line to Vancouver, so I enabled Nav mode and the plane started tracking it.  About half way there, I pretended as though my visibility went to zero so I added an ILS approach for 26R on the G1000. That added to my flight plan nicely. Problem is, the in game ATC didn’t pick this up. At some point close to the approach fix, my only ATC option was to ask Vancouver Center for class C airspace transit. I didn’t even see an option to request landing clearance which should have been there even if I was still in VFR conditions... right?
 

Did I miss something? Was there a point I should have been able to contact ATC for something? The ATC options in a VFR flight seem very limited. Maybe even more broken than I thought. 
 

Any advice on how to do this properly would be much appreciated. 

Edited October 2, 20205 yr by Virtual-Chris

I don't think you can request pop up IFR clearance without planing. But there is way around. Before flight file  IFR (low, high altitudes choice of routes) then after clearance take off and cancel IFR. In this case you can continue to file VFR and retrieve your original IFR flight plan if you needed

Absolutely.

In my country (EASA member) you can depart on IFR flightplan from uncontrolled aerdrome, and while airborne you activate the IFR flightplan with the suitable ATC station

"Activating IFR flightplan, departed Airport X 45 (minutes of the hour) to Airport Y.

You can even be more prudent and file a so called "Z-flightplan" and indicate where you transition from VFR to IFR.

So you can’t change from VFR to IFR mid-flight without planning? Interesting. What happens if a GA aircraft takes off on a VFR flight and conditions change (fog or storm rolls in)? Surely in the real world you can get some help from ATC, use your instruments, and when landing, tune into the ILS localizer... isn’t that switching to IFR? Or is ATC going to say ... sorry, you’re on a VFR flight, I can’t help you, you need to hold until the weather improves. LOL  

 

Edited October 2, 20205 yr by Virtual-Chris

In the real world - well I just watched a video on youtube of a person filing and IFR flight plan in flight.  They radioed a Flight Service Station and the FSS person went through all the required info for the filing over the radio.  Not sure if this is possible around the world.  

In MSFS I have noticed that at least some flight plan changes in the Garmin units trigger a 'request clearance for instrument fp' menu option in the ATC menu, but that may only work for flights that were initially IFR per the world map.

35 minutes ago, Virtual-Chris said:

So you can’t change from VFR to IFR mid-flight without planning? Interesting. What happens if a GA aircraft takes off on a VFR flight and conditions change (fog or storm rolls in)? Surely in the real world you can get some help from ATC, use your instruments, and when landing, tune into the ILS localizer... isn’t that switching to IFR? Or is ATC going to say ... sorry, you’re on a VFR flight, I can’t help you, you need to hold until the weather improves. LOL  

 

also you can fly VFR but forced to enter IMC (instrument meteorological conditions) due to weather.

24 minutes ago, marsman2020 said:

In the real world - well I just watched a video on youtube of a person filing and IFR flight plan in flight.  They radioed a Flight Service Station and the FSS person went through all the required info for the filing over the radio.  Not sure if this is possible around the world.  

In MSFS I have noticed that at least some flight plan changes in the Garmin units trigger a 'request clearance for instrument fp' menu option in the ATC menu, but that may only work for flights that were initially IFR per the world map.

I’m guessing filing an IFR plan mid flight is pretty unusual. It makes more sense that rather than going IFR, you just switch to using instruments to get through the soup.  

Now that you mention it, I did see something like 'request clearance for instrument FP’... in one of my flights but wasn’t sure what it was and ignored it. I need to try this again and see if this pops up. 
 

In the real world, if you were on a VFR flight, can you request using an ILS approach in bad weather?

Edited October 2, 20205 yr by Virtual-Chris

9 minutes ago, BackboneOne said:

also you can fly VFR but forced to enter IMC (instrument meteorological conditions) due to weather.

Can you explain what this means? Can you then load and use an ILS approach using your AP?

17 minutes ago, Virtual-Chris said:

Can you explain what this means? Can you then load and use an ILS approach using your AP?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument_meteorological_conditions

You are not allowed to just proceed into IMC (instrument meteorological conditions) and just "switch to instruments" without filing an IFR flight plan and entering into the ATC system.

The main reason being that once in IMC, the pilot can't maintain separation from traffic and terrain.

ATC needs to provide separation from other aircraft and keep you away from terrain.

Also there is a lot more training required for instrument flying, private pilots without an instrument rating are only required to have small (by comparison) amount of training to basically allow a 180 turn to get out of IMC if they get into it by mistake.

There are a number of effects related to the inner ear and your bodies sense of balance that can cause real gotchas in true IMC flight with no visual reference to ground.  These don't generally appear sitting at your desk flying MSFS.

8 hours ago, marsman2020 said:

Also there is a lot more training required for instrument flying, private pilots without an instrument rating are only required to have small (by comparison) amount of training to basically allow a 180 turn to get out of IMC if they get into it by mistake.

There are a number of effects related to the inner ear and your bodies sense of balance that can cause real gotchas in true IMC flight with no visual reference to ground.  These don't generally appear sitting at your desk flying MSFS.

Thanks.

So let’s say you have an experienced trained IFR pilot flying a Cessna Caravan with G1000 Avionics and they are doing a VFR flight, but while enroute to their destination, conditions deteriorate to the point where they are in thick soup. 

What is the procedure? In real life? 

Turn around as soon as IMC presents itself? Proceed using instruments and contact ATC? 

9 hours ago, Virtual-Chris said:

What happens if a GA aircraft takes off on a VFR flight and conditions change (fog or storm rolls in)?

This is called VFR into IMC, and it has killed a lot of pilots. It's why it's very important to get a weather briefing and read the TAF/METARS and listen to the entire ATIS before any flight - because if you plan right, it should almost never happen. 

But it does! In my state there have been several GA crashes in the last year or so where the pilots made poor decisions. One pilot decided to take off in known heavy icing conditions despite having a plane that did not have an ice protection system. He crashed shortly after takeoff and was killed. Another, who happened to be my former dentist, got killed when he decided to take off for a cross-state trip at dusk despite not having an instrument rating. Flying into the dark in deteriorating weather conditions including mist, fog, and low ceilings, he ended up crashing into a lake, most likely from disorientation. The report isn't out on his crash yet, but I bet get-there-itis is going to be in it - he was supposed to meet his (adult) son on vacation that day.

 

19 minutes ago, Virtual-Chris said:

So let’s say you have an experienced trained IFR pilot flying a Cessna Caravan with G1000 Avionics and they are doing a VFR flight, but while enroute to their destination, conditions deteriorate to the point where they are in thick soup. 

If they planned the flight properly, including getting a weather briefing, they would know that the weather has a chance of deteriorating on them. We're talking about predicting what the weather's going to look like in 4 or 5 hours, not 3 days from now. Even with climate change screwing up weather models and therefore making extended forecasts quite unreliable, it's fairly rare for meteorologists to predict clear skies in 3 hours and then be surprised with a tornado. It does happen, but not often.

Based on what kind of deterioration is expected along their flight route, they will probably either create and file an IFR flight plan (if it's just gonna be fog/rain) so they don't have to worry about it, or choose not to go / be ready and willing to divert to an alternate (if it's going to be, say, severe thunderstorms).

The procedure if you've really screwed up and have gone VFR into IMC should be to turn 180 and fly back out of the soup, but sometimes that's tough because you get disoriented. 

Lots more interesting info here:

 https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Inadvertent_VFR_Flight_Into_IMC#Recognition_of_Inadvertent_Entry_into_IMC

Edited October 2, 20205 yr by eslader

1 hour ago, eslader said:

This is called VFR into IMC, and it has killed a lot of pilots. It's why it's very important to get a weather briefing and read the TAF/METARS and listen to the entire ATIS before any flight - because if you plan right, it should almost never happen. 

But it does! In my state there have been several GA crashes in the last year or so where the pilots made poor decisions. One pilot decided to take off in known heavy icing conditions despite having a plane that did not have an ice protection system. He crashed shortly after takeoff and was killed. Another, who happened to be my former dentist, got killed when he decided to take off for a cross-state trip at dusk despite not having an instrument rating. Flying into the dark in deteriorating weather conditions including mist, fog, and low ceilings, he ended up crashing into a lake, most likely from disorientation. The report isn't out on his crash yet, but I bet get-there-itis is going to be in it - he was supposed to meet his (adult) son on vacation that day.

 

If they planned the flight properly, including getting a weather briefing, they would know that the weather has a chance of deteriorating on them. We're talking about predicting what the weather's going to look like in 4 or 5 hours, not 3 days from now. Even with climate change screwing up weather models and therefore making extended forecasts quite unreliable, it's fairly rare for meteorologists to predict clear skies in 3 hours and then be surprised with a tornado. It does happen, but not often.

Based on what kind of deterioration is expected along their flight route, they will probably either create and file an IFR flight plan (if it's just gonna be fog/rain) so they don't have to worry about it, or choose not to go / be ready and willing to divert to an alternate (if it's going to be, say, severe thunderstorms).

The procedure if you've really screwed up and have gone VFR into IMC should be to turn 180 and fly back out of the soup, but sometimes that's tough because you get disoriented. 

Lots more interesting info here:

 https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Inadvertent_VFR_Flight_Into_IMC#Recognition_of_Inadvertent_Entry_into_IMC

Yes, I'm not talking about a case of a VFR pilot getting into IMC conditions.  I'm trying to understand a situation where a IFR pilot, who started on a VFR flight, ends up in IMC conditions.   It would seem obvious that if a trained IFR pilot with a G1000 gets into soup unexpectedly, they will certainly use the tools available to them to either get out of it, or even proceed as planned using GPS and instruments.  There has to be a process for that, right?  

Someone above mentioned "request clearance for instrument FP". I think that's the answer I'm looking for. Can anyone shed more light on that?

If you have not done your homework and checked weather or thought you can risk it and go VFR and encounter IMC condition, Do a 180degree turn (cause you know you came from VFR conditions into the soup)... and go back and land somewhere safely if you not IFR Pilot, or file an IFR and get clearance, either at the airport or enroute while you are still in VFR conditions if you are IFR certified and current (currency is important as well..if you are not current do not file IFR even if you are IFR certified)

Edited October 2, 20205 yr by Manny