Hey, MzeroA nation. Jason here.
And as we wrap up our Aviation Weather Series,
I'd be doing you a disservice if we didn't sit down
and talk a little bit about personal minimums.
You see, I can tell you how to be
the best stick and rudder pilot.
I can teach you basically how to be a meteorologist
and to really know and understand aviation weather,
but all of that would be in vain if we didn't learn
how to make smart "go and no-go" decisions.
So, in order to do that, I've come up with a formula
where the METAR or the TAF makes a decision for us.
"I will not go flying.
I will not go flying if the clouds are less than _____."
We're going to kind of go bit by bit here
and allow me to explain.
"I will not go flying if the clouds are less than _____."
You fill in that blank for what's right for you.
Notice the verbiage here.
I said, "the clouds."
I didn't say, "broken," or "overcast," or "lowest ceiling,"
or anything like that because we all know a few layer
becomes a scattered layer, becomes a broken layer,
becomes an overcast layer like that sometimes.
I will not go flying if the clouds are less than _____.
Next is, "I will not go flying if the visibility is less than _____."
This is when student pilots and private pilots alike
really can get themselves into trouble on.
If you read a METAR and you see 10 statute miles visibility,
yet you could go up and the visibility could really be
10 statute miles, or it could be one of those days--
we get them on occasion here in Florida,
where I can take off and I can see the Gulf of Mexico
and I can see the Atlantic Ocean once I get to a few thousand feet.
Visibility is that good.
It’s truly just unlimited visibility.
Yet, the METAR says 10 statute miles still
because that's just the area it shows out to the reports out to.
So, where student pilots, private pilots,
even instrument pilots, make a mistake
is they’re so used to seeing 10 SM, 10 statute miles,
seeing both oceans, the gulf and the ocean,
and go up, the weather's awesome.
Ten statute miles is awesome weather.
Yet, have you ever flown in 9 statute miles of visibility,
or 8 statute miles of visibility?
If you are private pilot only and you've flown
an 8 or 9 statute miles of visibility,
I guarantee, you are probably a little bit nervous going into it.
It probably felt more like marginal VFR than anything.
There's a big difference between 10 plus
and 9 miles of visibility.
I want you to be mindful of that as you make your own
hard-set personal minimums.
Lastly, "I will not go flying if the winds are greater than _____."
And you could add to this by way you could say
the crosswind component is greater than this,
but if the wind is greater than blank,
you fill that in, I won't go flying.
You see what this does when you set up the numbers like this.
When you say, "I will not go flying
if the clouds are less than _____ visibility,
less than, you fill in the _____, winds are greater than _____,"
you take the external pressures out of it.
The buddy who's been nagging you to take him flying,
you've canceled once because of weather,
twice because of maintenance.
Eventually, he's going to look at you and go,
"Jason, are you even a pilot at this point?
You’ve canceled on me three times.
What's up?"
The weather's kind of marginal.
It's 7--6 statute miles visibility,
let me just take him flying just to shut him up.
These external pressures, even as a private pilot,
you deal with external pressures.
Student pilot, too.
The external pressure just to get this done.
I've got to get this cross-country done.
I don't have any more time.
There's no more money in the budget.
I’ve got to get this done.
External pressures come in all shapes and sizes.
It doesn't have to be money-related.
So, you see, when you have hard set personal minimums,
you can look at the METAR, and say, "I'm sorry.
My rule is I will not go flying if the clouds are less than 1,500 feet,
and right now there's a scattered layer seen at 1,200."
Because I know scattered layer will become broken
and will become overcast nine times out of ten, right?
You have to be mindful of that.
Let the METAR, let the TAF make the decision for you
and take the emotion out of making go and no-go decisions.
Have your hard-set personal minimum numbers.
I will not go flying up the clouds are less than _____.
Visibility less than _____.
The winds greater than _____.
What are those numbers going to be for you?
I want to hear what your personal minimums are,
are going to be in the comments below.
By the way, these can adjust.
You could make-- I could make
my personal minimums in 2-3 Mike Zulu,
and that's great.
2-3 Mike Zulu fly out of Ocala Airport.
Easy.
2-3 Mike Zulu, when we took it out to California,
different ballgame, right?
Not familiar with the area.
Familiar with the airplane, not familiar with the area.
I raise my personal minimums.
Fly with a non-flying friend, spouse.
Raise the personal minimums.
You want to lower them?
Let's earn more hours.
Let's earn an instrument rating.
Let's step up our game with our flying,
and then we can talk about setting those milestones
to lower them as well.
Anyways, I want to read the comments below.
I want to know what are your hard-set personal minimums.
And I'll see you all as we continue to wrap up
this Aviation Weather Series.
Great livestream this Thursday, by the way, 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time
on the MzeroA YouTube and MzeroA Facebook.
Probably right where you're watching us right now.
Thursday, 3:00 p.m.
I'll be taking you through some great weather flight planning tools
on the iPad and on the computer,
and making smart go and no-go decisions
using real-world weather.
Anyways, I'll see you, guys, over there then.
I can't wait to read your comments.
Have a wonderful rest of your day, and most importantly,
remember that a good pilot is always learning.
Have a great day, guys. We'll see you.
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