Minimums, Maximums, & Margins

Richard L. Collins

Monday, June 22, 2009 at 08:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

Maintaining adequate operating margins within an aircraft's envelope is paramount for safety, especially as conditions approach limits.
Reported weather often differs significantly from actual conditions at critical decision points during instrument approaches; pilots must strictly adhere to published minimums and initiate a missed approach if visual references are not established.
To prevent accidents, pilots should proactively establish and consistently adhere to conservative personal minimums that exceed regulatory requirements for all flight operations, as insufficient margins are a common factor in incidents during takeoff, approach, and landing.

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There’s plenty of information on the operating limitations of an airplane. A VG diagram (in some applications called a VN diagram) shows many things including stalling speed, maneuvering speed, maximum allowable speed, maximum indicated airspeed in rough air and maximum allowable G loading, both positive and negative. Operate within the parameters of the VG diagram and you are flying the airplane within its envelope. The closer you fly to the edges of the envelope, the lower your margins.

Pilots don’t have to learn to read VG diagrams because this information is shown in other ways. Airspeed indicator markings and operating limitations provide the information that we need to operate within the envelope.