Yes without ability to fly missed to rejoin it’s no different than cancel and negociate later
In Europe you could fly visual down to 800m visbility and ground contact under instrument rules but I am not sure that is allowed to uncontrolled airfields, for sure it’s prohibited in France as you need VMC in the AD (1.5km visibility) to approach under IFR without procedure…
If you cancel IFR you then have a VFR flight plan so if you go around/ go missed and choose to go to your alternate you then fly to your alternate under a VFR flight plan and not an IFR one. This could make a difference if your alternate is IMC.
Also IFPS only distribute IFR sectors to the appropriate ATS so if once cancelled your VFR sectors are automatically deleted (I don’t know exactly what happens here) on the computer does your alternate still know you are coming or do you have to be recleared?
Airborne_Again wrote:
So that’s not really different from cancelling IFR before the approach? In that case there’s no difference in principle from how it works in Europe.
It is in one important aspect, cancelling before the approach requires you to be in VFR conditions including cloud separation. With the clearance for a visual approach, you are still operating under IFR rules and are only required to remain clear of clouds. So if you are at the MVA and just below a ceiling and visibility is unlimited, you see the airport and cancel IFR, you are immediately in violation of VFR rules which require you to be 500 feet below the ceiling. You can’t legally descend from the MVA under IFR without the clearance for the visual approach because you are already at the lowest altitude permitted by IFR.
