What are your IFR takeoff minimums?

Roger Sharp

Monday, November 19, 2012 at 08:18 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

While Part 91 IFR takeoffs have no prescribed minimums, pilots must proactively manage risk by ensuring aircraft performance meets required obstacle climb gradients for departure procedures, or a default 200 feet per nautical mile, converting to feet per minute based on groundspeed.
Prudent planning for potential aircraft malfunctions includes having sufficient ceiling and visibility (e.g., circling minimums) to execute a visual forced landing or return, and considering a "takeoff alternate" with better weather.
Pilots should account for the time needed to transition from visual to instrument references, particularly at low altitudes. For new instrument pilots, it's a wise practice to delay departure until weather is at or above circling minimums (e.g., 500-foot ceiling and 1-mile visibility).

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Is this a trick question? If you say there aren’t any prescribed takeoff minimums for Part 91 operators, you would be correct; however, just because something is legal doesn’t make it smart. You might even have heard an instructor saying you can take off if it’s “zero-zero.” That advice is as impractical as it is, well, stupid. Flying involves risk. We can’t let ourselves be paralyzed by those risks, but we certainly need to manage them, so here are some factors you might want to consider in making an IFR takeoff decision.

Obstacle Clearance
First and foremost, you need to know if your aircraft performance is adequate to meet the climb requirements for the specific departure you’re about to execute. These minimums are found in the Takeoff Minimums and (Obstacle) Departure Procedures. Not sure what I’m talking about? You aren’t alone. You might be surprised to know how many applicants for an instrument rating don’t know where to find this information or how to apply it.