Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

Solo Weather Minimums

Asked by: 4934 views , , ,
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.

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

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.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  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.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.