Original Message

I ask "when does a field go from IFR to VFR" looking for a simple answer of 1000' ceiling and 3 st miles vis for (basic VFR mins).  You would be surprised of the obscure answers I get and even worse the perplexed expression on their face of what does this even mean.  If we ever get past that, I stretch it into "what are your VFR minimums?"  I'm not looking for "clear of clouds" as that all depends on a variety of issues.  Day time, night time, destination weather/length of flight, local obstructions/terrain, aircraft equipment (IFR capable), pilot currency/proficiency,...  What I'm looking for is the thought process which opens up the real experience level.  Keeping it simple and not being the "Mikey will do it when no one else will" while still be productive and safety conscious.  Being over cautious ("I'm not taking off unless the field is at minimum VFR") doesn't help much either.  You better have a good explanation.  Normally people fail to ask amplifying questions and just jump away.  Take a second, think about what was asked, get as much info as needed to make a reasonable answer and keep it simple helps the best.