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Solo Weather Minimums

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Flight Instructor

I am in the process of developing a standardized set of gradually increasing solo restrictions that are based on phases of training (please don't debate the merits of standardizing limitations as I am not at liberty to explain why) and was curious as to what other CFI's impose for weather and distance restrictions and at what increments they use to increase them.
My intent is to determine a mean standard to base my numbers on.

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2 Answers



  1. Russ Roslewski on Jan 23, 2017

    Wind 15 kt steady, 7 kt gust spread, 7 kt crosswind component. Ceiling/Vis 5000/5.

    Understand that these are greatly influenced by location. Here in Oklahoma we are routinely training in windy conditions from the start, but ceiling and vis is not a problem.

    Distance requirement? I see no reason to include that, Part 61 requirements are sufficient.

    When do I relax them? I don’t. They get relaxed when they pass the check ride and no longer apply. 🙂 Having some kind of gradually increasing limits seems excessively complicated to me, since the solo flight part of Private Pilot training isn’t usually very long.

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  2. MarkO on May 06, 2017

    I wouldn’t decrease them either. That said, I’d be sure to get your student up in MVFR weather for the experience and correlation of the considerations in operations in MVFR.

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