I got this BADLY WRONG, so it's time for me to go back to school and learn all about SPECIAL VFR.

I recently requested a Special VFR zone crossing in controlled airspace in order to be able to manoeuvre around some nasty weather and posted some photos and a comment about it on social media and man did it cause some controversy! So as it’s something that I didn’t get quite right and as it’s a service that not many of us use in the U.K. I thought I’d take a deep dive into the rules, requirements and implications in order to try and refresh and educate myself on the subject. So join me today as together we take a good look at Special VFR and the visual only pilot. Having been flying an IFR certified aircraft in conjunction with my IRR rating for many years I would normally request an IFR zone crossing of class D airspace as I didn’t care if they vectored me through cloud and it was all very straight forward for me and the controller, however, since my current aircraft is VFR only I can only accept a VFR clearance. On this occasion I started the crossing on a regular VFR clearance but there appeared to be some pretty big showers on my route and I thought I may need to wiggle around them. Now when on an IFR clearance you will normally be given a vector and an assigned altitude of which you must be fly accurately and I suppose I had this in my mind as I got closer to the showers. I somehow thought that just swerving around them would worry the controller and as my mind clicked through the options, Special VFR came to the forefront. My name is Terry Kent and I am a General Aviation PPL private pilot operating out of North Weald EGSX about 12 miles to the north east of London in the UK. Short Field is my channel focused on the lighter side of aviation including flight and airfield reviews, equipment unboxing and review plus all things private pilot related. I use various cameras to record my videos and stills and edit them in Adobe Premiere Pro, I am an animator as well and often use animations to describe situations more clearly. I always attempt to post my videos in the highest possible quality, normally 4k. If you are interested in the gear I used to film this video please follow the Amazon Affliate links below, (if you do end up buying I get a teeny tiny bit of commission from Amazon which I can use to make the channel better and it costs you no more so I really appreciate it if you do use my links) thank you: My iPhone mount for SkyDemon: https://amzn.to/39PddG8 My main GoPro Camera: https://amzn.to/2XWLvVw My main GoPro Camera Media Mod: https://amzn.to/3F2umuj My second GoPro Camera: https://amzn.to/3F2umuj My 360 Camera: https://amzn.to/3CN80v8 My stills camera: https://amzn.to/3ul9gCF I fly a 2011 Pipersport two seat single engine aircraft that is also known as the PS28 or SportCruiser. It cruises at 105 knots and has superb short take off and landing or STOL capabilities. I visit farm, back country and short strips as well as international airports and try to learn something new everytime I fly. I fly VFR and IFR as well as visual and instrument approaches. My videos may give helpful information to pilots but please remember these are just for entertainment, I am not an instructor nor should anything shown in my videos be used for real world aviation, also the airfields I visit may have totally changed or even closed since the making of the video so always consult the latest information for your country. If you enjoyed this video, please give it a ‘thumbs up’ and leave me a comment in the box below, I love to read them and I also like to hear what you like or dislike about my video. Please share it with anyone you think would be interested and I'd so love it if you ticked SUBSCRIBE to be informed by YouTube when I upload my next video. Thank you so much. If you are interested, my video content is available to purchase as stock footage, please contact me via my email address in the ABOUT section of my channel for more information. If you like my content (I don't get any revenue from this channel at all) you could buy me a coffee but no worries if you don't want too, I'm just chuffed that you are even interested in my videos, and if you ever see me at any airfields please come over and say 'Hi' and I'll probably buy you a coffee. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shortfield If you see me around please come over and say 'Hi'. Planning Software: SkyDemon https://www.skydemon.aero/