What are the weather minimums in controlled airspace?

In controlled airspace, the weather minimums are established to ensure safe operations for aircraft. The specified requirement of 3 miles of visibility combined with the 500 feet vertical and 1 mile horizontal distance from clouds is crucial. This standard helps provide pilots with a sufficient buffer for navigation and visibility of other aircraft. The visibility requirement ensures that pilots can see and avoid obstacles or other air traffic, while the cloud clearance requirements promote safety by preventing collisions with obscured aircraft.

In controlled airspace, adhering to these minimums is essential for effective communication and coordination with air traffic control, which operates on the assumption that pilots will maintain these standards. These criteria support visual flight rules (VFR) operations, allowing pilots to fly while visually navigating the environment and managing separation from other aircraft effectively.

The other options reflect various visibility and cloud clearance criteria that do not align with the established regulations for controlled airspace operations.