Make a Note

Does this meet your takeoff minimums? As a Part 91, single-engine-land flyer it can legally be as low as 0/0, but you prefer to be able to be able to make it back in if need be, plus a little margin. So use the RNAV 15 approach as the backup. But wait: Youre LNAV only, no vertical navigation, so your MDA is 1920 feet with one-mile visibility. This is nearly 100 feet higher than the current ceiling-still legal to fly under 91.175, but not a good turnback plan.

Elaine Kauh

Monday, October 28, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilots frequently overlook critical "fine print" and symbols on aviation charts and procedures, which contain essential information for safe flight planning.
Thorough pre-flight planning, especially in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC), requires meticulous review of departure procedures, takeoff minimums, approach options, and contingency plans, including understanding obstacle clearance and turnback possibilities.
Prioritizing safety means carefully evaluating all operational alternatives, adhering to personal minimums, and scrutinizing specific chart details (like ODPs or expanded circling radii), even when convenience might suggest otherwise.

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Skipping fine print on procedure charts is common practice. We’ve all done it. It’s right up there with NOTAMs—those hard-to-read footnotes on stuff that, lots of the time, gets missed and isn’t that useful or meaningful anyway. But much of it is good-to-know information. So it behooves us to at least take a scan.

We’re departing Sioux Falls, South Dakota (KFSD) for a trip to Jeffersonville, Indiana (KJVY) via RNAV, with IMC for the entire four-hour flight. The usual way to cover your bases is to review departure procedures, maybe en-route charts, then approach charts, right? Perhaps, unless you’re one of those who (admirably) reads all the text from the top, rather than jumping straight to the meat in the middle.