Personal miminums

[Alpha Propellerhead]

Just curious as to what kinds of personal minimums (minima?) people
use for their own flying. It's an open discussion.

Percentage of max gross weight, visibility, crosswind, percentage of
listed performance data, etc.

Or, if you want: What if you had somebody next to you saying "Sure,
you can do this. It's no problem." or "I've done it a bunch of
times."

Was it taught, learned through observation, or did you learn it the
hard way? Have your minimums changed over time?

Cheers!
-c

[Mike Ash]

In article

Post by Alpha Propellerhead
Just curious as to what kinds of personal minimums (minima?) people
use for their own flying. It's an open discussion.
Percentage of max gross weight, visibility, crosswind, percentage of
listed performance data, etc.

I'll go up to 100% of the rated numbers for the aircraft, but no further
unless it's unavoidable (like if I have to land in a crosswind that
exceeds the maximum). The limits include a safety factor, so I think
it's safe to hit them, but the safety factor is supposed to be there for
the unexpected, so it's not safe to bite into it deliberately.

For weather, as a glider pilot, my flying is purely recreational and
poor weather is rarely fun to fly in, so I usually avoid it. This is not
true for winds (from the right direction, the more the better, until it
gets so strong as to kill you) but is true for visibility and
precipitation. I have had a couple of frightening encounters with clouds
and poor visibility, but it was not deliberate, and I wouldn't fly into
such a situation on purpose if I could avoid it.

Post by Alpha Propellerhead
Or, if you want: What if you had somebody next to you saying "Sure,
you can do this. It's no problem." or "I've done it a bunch of
times."

Depends on who it is and what's being proposed. If it's the slightly
weird guy who's had more than one crash saying there's no problem going
to 130% of Vne, no way. If it's a trusted, conservative instructor
saying that it's no problem taking a passenger who's 10 pounds over the
weight limit on a benign day, sure.

Post by Alpha Propellerhead
Was it taught, learned through observation, or did you learn it the
hard way? Have your minimums changed over time?

I haven't had to learn any the hard way yet, fortunately. (Not to say I
haven't made mistakes and learned from them, I certainly have, they just
haven't been of the "boy, I shouldn't have been flying at all" variety.)
Proper reverence for the numbers in the POH was part of my instructional
program, but mostly it's just been a matter of observing how various
club members deal with abnormal situations, how much they freak out, how
they treat the numbers, etc.

[Roger]

On Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:22:38 -0700 (PDT), Alpha Propellerhead

Post by Alpha Propellerhead
Just curious as to what kinds of personal minimums (minima?) people
use for their own flying. It's an open discussion.

There are minimums and then there are limitations.
Pilots often confuse the two and they do vary from country to country.

Post by Alpha Propellerhead
Percentage of max gross weight, visibility, crosswind, percentage of
listed performance data, etc.

Gross weight and CG are limitations! I'll fly at gross for any given
temperature as long as it's within CG limits. Visibility? As long as
it's legal and I'm instrument rated. No icing conditions as that's
what it says in the POH.

What do you mean by performance data? TO distance and landing
distance? My plane has a larger engine than it started life with. I
had to develop the performance data myself. I know I can roll into a
60 degree banked, level turn at 120 mph and not worry. The stall
warning horn will start howling at 118-119. If I stall it the turn
just gets wider if the plane was in coordinated flight. The wings in
the old bird have no washout. Stalls with gear down and flaps out
is...well...interesting as it want's to roll over into a spin. With
practice you can hold it in the stall, nose high and it's like walking
a tight rope using the rudder to keep things straight. Touch an
aileron in a stall and that side will go down...really fast<:-))
Rudder to stop the rotation, speed back to *reasonable* and roll it
upright.

First, the demonstrated cross wind component is NOT a limitation! Is
not and never has been in the US. For most planes it is what the
wind was basically doing on a given day.
The demonstrated component on my Deb is 12 mph while both the Deb and
I are good for 25 mph.

My cross wind limitation is this. I line up with the runway. Bank
into the wind and use the rudder to stay pointed down the runway. IF
I can do that, I have little concern at what ever the winds are
reading as the wind is normally less at the surface than at altitude
or even starting down final. Besides there's always the "go around"
option if the winds should pick up.

Take off distance, I stick with the book figures although I know the
plane can better them substantially. It will also land shorter than
the book says and if you use the proper technique you can shorten
that. I can get in and out of 1200' as long as there are no obstacles
off the ends of the runway. A steep power on landing will only use
about 900' and if it's a cool day with a 10 knot head wind I can make
it really short.

Post by Alpha Propellerhead
Or, if you want: What if you had somebody next to you saying "Sure,
you can do this. It's no problem." or "I've done it a bunch of
times."

I know what the plane and I can do and that is not changed by what
some one else can do, has done, or claims to have done.

Post by Alpha Propellerhead
Was it taught, learned through observation, or did you learn it the
hard way? Have your minimums changed over time?

When it comes to minimums I think of weather. Visibility, ceiling,
turbulence, icing, thunder storms... I don't think I learned any thing
the "hard way" although when I fly and in what is based on personal
experience as well as training. Yes, I've been caught VFR when the
weather went bad, but it was no biggie as I had planned for the
"just-in-case". I had to train for the Instrument rating, but the
instructor was very thorough and we have lots of crappy weather.
Flying VFR in 3 to 5 never bothered me, but I studied the weather
thoroughly and always left myself a way out even if it meant flying
another 300 to 400 miles. Yes, I've set down and spent the night when
the weather went bad. IOW we were tooling along, coming back from
Colorado when we passed a little air field. I pointed it out to my
wife, showed her the NDB and the arrow pointing to it. When I looked
back up the windshield might as well have been painted white. I
couldn't see a thing outside those windows. So we made a standard rate
turn back to the NDB and landed.

But my instrument minimums are what ever is shown on the charts and
they were that way immediately after passing the test due to the
diligence of that instructor and Michigan's crappy weather. Although I
had to work to get back to that proficiency.

Yes, my proficiency changes with the amount I fly. I don't write down
any minimums, I just know when I reach any given situation what I can
and can not do.


73

Roger

Post by Alpha Propellerhead
Cheers!
-c