What’s the difference between pilot limitations and personal minimums? I submit it’s the level of pilot certification.

For the student pilot about to make their first solo flight, the CFI carefully records the weather limitations as part of the solo endorsement. These usually include references to the ceiling, visibility, and winds: “Visibility at least 3 miles and ceiling must be at least 2,500 feet for in pattern, visibility 5 miles and 4,000 feet for flight in the practice area. Crosswinds no greater than 6 knots, with gusts no greater than 10.”

These limitations are often tailored to the individual pilot, or they may be drawn from the procedures culled from the flight school’s training course outline (TCO). Since the invention of the text message, some CFIs add a note: “Must notify flight instructor before solo.” This is particularly popular for Part 61 training as the learner is “riding on the CFI’s certificate.”

This Article First Appeared in FLYING Magazine

If you're not already a subscriber, what are you waiting for? Subscribe today to get the issue as soon as it is released in either Print or Digital formats.

Subscribe Now

As the student’s experience and skill increase, the limitations change. The winds get higher, and the ceilings may get lower. After you achieve pilot certification, the limitations help establish your personal minimums. These are self-imposed limitations that are yours and yours alone.

Establishing personal minimums is something every pilot should do—and it’s not easy. This is one of those things often done best using paper and pencil and creating a list. There’s something about writing it down, and I mean writing it down manually rather than typing them, that makes you follow through with them.

• READ MORE: Even With Better Tools, Pilots Make Same Mistakes
• READ MORE: The Art of the Pilot Debrief

If anecdotal evidence is any indication, one of the most challenging questions to be asked during the private pilot check ride is: “What are your personal weather minimums?” According to several DPEs I know, there are some pilot candidates who have never even given it a thought. 

Although they’ve been taught to access and interpret a weather briefing, they’ve not had a chance to develop their personal minimums outside the training environment because throughout their training they’ve relied on their instructor to tell them when the weather is good enough to fly. Many are surprised by the question, especially when realizing there’s not a one-size-fits-all reply.

Factors to Consider

Risk management and mitigation lies at the heart of personal minimums. This begins with using the IMSAFE checklist (Illness, Medication, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, Emotion) we learned as student pilots, followed by the PAVE model (Pilot, Aircraft, enVironment, Expectations).

P is for Pilot: Can you pass the IMSAFE checklist? Are you current? Are you proficient? If you hold an instrument certificate, would you be comfortable flying an IFR approach in the airplane if the weather goes sour?

A is for Airplane: How much time do you have in this make and model? If you’re renting from a business that has a fleet of aircraft, have you flown this particular aircraft before? Some airplanes, like people, have quirks. One Cessna 172 has articulating seats that you need to crank all the way down or else you don’t fit in the airplane, or the dispatch person, trying to thwart a maintenance challenge, may move you into the low-wing model that you haven’t flown in months.

Are you familiar and comfortable with the use of the instruments and radios? It can be a challenge when the dispatch person is unfamiliar with the differences between the aircraft in the fleet and puts you in the G1000-equipped model when all you’ve ever flown is round dial.

All those buttons can be confusing, and using the airspeed and altimeter tapes for the first time comes with a learning curve. On takeoff, put the nose on the horizon out the windscreen and note what that looks like on the computer screen. Add power and let the appropriate V speed (V_R, V_X, and/or V_Y) come to you. Avoid the urge to “pull back” to capture the speed.

If it’s a new-to-you airplane, spend a little more time on the performance calculations, paying special attention to the weight and balance and performance numbers. Look for placards that warn of increased fuel burn because of an engine modification. Double-check the usable fuel, noting the placards on the fuel tanks. You don’t want to be the pilot who thinks they have 36 gallons of usable fuel and finds out it’s more like 33 when they’re still a few miles from the airport.

V is for enVironment: Is the weather something you’re comfortable flying in? Here’s a big question: Are you trying to stay ahead of a descending ceiling or increasing winds as a front approaches? If you hold an instrument certificate, would you be comfortable flying an IFR approach in this airplane?

In addition to the weather, consider your knowledge of the area, including terrain and airspace, and the mission (purpose) of the flight, the technical knowledge and skill required, and the concerns of the passengers. With the latter, it’s often a good idea to be conservative. While you may enjoy orbiting at 1,000 feet over a field of tulips or a corn maze on a slightly bumpy day, it might be unpleasant for a non-pilot passenger.

If the flight involves going to airspace that you rarely go into—like the class B, C, or D for towered airport operations or even a nontowered airport if that’s outside the norm for you—you will want to study the procedures before you get there. You may even want to do the flight with a qualified and experienced flight instructor on board to make sure you don’t become task saturated and get behind the airplane

E is for Expectations: You really wanted to make this flight, but the weather is starting to drop. Or you promised someone you’d take them flying, and now the clouds are gathering, and the wind is kicking up. It can be hard to disappoint people, including yourself.

There are some schools that push the instructors to take their students into questionable weather under the guise of providing the students with experience they’ll need. There’s some validity to this, as calm wind days are a rarity. Student pilots should be introduced to more challenging weather when they have already learned basic skills.

However, if the ceiling is barely high enough for the pattern, and the winds are such that the CFI has to do the bulk of the flying, it’s not so much a flight lesson as it’s an hour grab by the instructor. Always be prepared to turn around or divert if the weather gets worse, and always have a place to go in mind.

Developing Personal Minimums

To the CFIs: Give your learners the tools to develop their personal minimums early in their training. When you endorse them for first solo and cross-country flights, point out the weather limitations included.

On the endorsement for the individual cross-country flights you may want to include the phrase: “Weather checked as of (insert the time and date)” and stress to learners that if the weather changes significantly for the worse during the flight, or is outside the published minimums for the flight school or club, a discontinuance or no-go is the correct decision. 

It’s also important to teach learners to recognize hazardous weather and calculate aircraft performance early in their training. By the time they are soloed they should know how to crunch the numbers and determine and mitigate the risks.

Help learners build their confidence by pointing out when you increase their weather limitations. For example, if they were soloed with a limitation of a crosswind component of 6 knots with gusts to 9, and several hours of flight training later when they need another endorsement, you increase it 8 knots and gusts to 12, make sure you mention the reason you’re changing the limitations is because their experience and skills have increased.

Teach learners it’s OK to express concerns about weather. One of the ways you can do this is by modeling good behavior.

The day of my flight instructor instrument check ride a storm was moving into Seattle. Both the examiner and myself noticed the sound of the wind picking up while we did the ground portion of the exam.

The DPE asked if I wanted to do the flying portion of the ride—I think he was testing me. I replied no, saying the weather wasn’t something I would feel comfortable taking a client into because they need to build skills, not get scared, and this wasn’t about me building my hours.

That was apparently the correct answer, because as we walked into the main building to use the weather computer—we were both curious about the wind gusts—we exited just in time to see the flag attached to the pole outside lose a corner attachment. The metal hook snapped, and the flag ripped loose and flailed around like a rag, then stuck straight out.

That was good enough for me. I took a discontinuance—and the DPE heartily agreed. 

This column first appeared in the July Issue 972 of the FLYING print edition.