AGL Clearance Turbulence 
Air Facts
MAY 5, 2025
Our NIFA team of pilots would travel to other colleges and compete in sanctioned competition involving precise navigation, pre-flight inspections, accuracy landings, and simulated bomb drops into a barrel from 100 AGL feet using bean bags as bombs. I filed my IFR flight plan, received a clearance and took off into the gray winter sky.
Pilot's Life Blog
JUNE 18, 2025
Altitude and Terrain Clearance: Always perform steep turns at a safe altitude well above any obstacles or terrain. Practicing this technique enhances your ability to handle the aircraft smoothly in various flight conditions, including turbulence or tight airspace. What defines a standard steep turn?
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Pilot Institute
MARCH 6, 2025
AGL Above Ground Level AGL is simply a way to tell the basis from which any given height or altitude is measured. Simply put, 400 feet AGL means that the 400 feet is measured from the underlying ground surface above the specific airspace. This is as opposed to other altitude measurements, such as AMSL or above mean sea level.
Plane and Pilot
AUGUST 6, 2024
Also, from when I lived out West, there was the mountaintop clearance guideline—1,000 feet for every 10 knots of wind, with 30 knots meaning no-go. But if I was going VFR over strange territory, I would want lots more than 1,000 feet agl. With my risk profile, IFR really means ignoring crappy VFR and VFR cloud clearance requirements.
Plane and Pilot
SEPTEMBER 1, 2024
If the weather is not appropriate for instrument flight in light piston-engine airplanes, meaning the clouds contain ice, turbulence, or embedded thunderstorms, you’re probably better off using your VFR privileges, so long as you set strict limits. If on radar vectors, the controller may have another option for you.
Plane and Pilot
SEPTEMBER 1, 2024
If the weather is not appropriate for instrument flight in light piston-engine airplanes, meaning the clouds contain ice, turbulence, or embedded thunderstorms, you’re probably better off using your VFR privileges, so long as you set strict limits. If on radar vectors, the controller may have another option for you.
Photographic Logbook
FEBRUARY 4, 2024
Current minimums on the RNAV-28 are 558 feet AGL since we lost our LPV approaches due to obstructions. Seeing a plume of snow billowing from the peak of Whiteface, I was concerned about experiencing turbulence downwind of the peak, but the air remained benign all the way around. Peak of Whiteface with Lake Placid behind it.
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