"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...
[...]
I find your qualification of "pretty much anywhere that there *isn't*
Class G airspace" to lack any mention of the necessity for the Special
VFR clearance to be flown within the CONTROLLED AIRSPACE SURFACE AREA
OF AN AIRPORT.

Why?

Pick a point in space that is "near the surface" (for the purposes of this
discussion, let's say 500', but anything lower than the floor of the basic
Class E airspace would be fine) that is NOT Class G airspace. The odds that
you can obtain a Special VFR clearance in that airspace are excellent,
because near the surface, the usual reason for the airspace NOT being Class
G airspace is that it's the controlled airspace around an airport.

So I must be misinterpreting what you wrote, or FAR §91.157.

Yup, you must be.

[...]
Ah. So implicit in being less than 700' AGL while being in Class B,
C, D or E controlled airspace, is the notion that you are within an
airport's surface area of controlled airspace, for it is the only
controlled airspace charted to the surface.

Yes. If you understand this, I don't see why you still don't understand
what I wrote.

[...]
In decades of flying, I had never considered the fact that controlled
airspace ONLY reaches the surface at airport surface areas be they
controlled airports or not.

Why not? And why is that relevant here?

[...]
If "91.157 grants them this right elsewhere (with a Special VFR
clearance)," it must be possible to obtain Special VFR clearance at
(for example in southern California):

Paso Robles (PRB) an uncontrolled airport
Blythe (BLH) an uncontrolled airport
Needles (EED) an uncontrolled airport
Desert Resorts Regional (TRM) an uncontrolled airport
Imperial Co (IPL) an uncontrolled airport
Within the Class E surface extensions of many controlled airports

Is that actually the case?

Yes. A tower at the airport in question is not required for a Special VFR
clearance.

Pete