Flight School: Weather Restrictions

Pia Bergqvist

Friday, October 28, 2011 at 10:19 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Instructors should set clear, conservative, and specific weather limits (e.g., wind, visibility, ceiling) for student solo endorsements, especially for initial solos, to ensure safety and mitigate liability.
A graduated approach is recommended, allowing limits to become more liberal as students gain experience, but only after they have been thoroughly trained in those specific conditions.
The ultimate goal is to foster the student's "Pilot in Command" decision-making, encouraging them to assess weather within legal, personal, and aircraft limitations.
Instructors can facilitate this by requiring students to check in before solo flights to review weather and explain their "go/no-go" decision and rationale.

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What weather limits should an instructor set for a student to fly solo?

Jeff Edwards has been a flight instructor since 1982 and is a former FAA-designated pilot examiner. He has been a six-time designated Master Certificated Flight Instructor. In 2003, Jeff was selected as the National Flight Instructor of the Year. Jeff has more than 8,000 flight hours including nearly 2,000 as a bombardier/navigator in the A-6 Intruder. He says: