Personal Minimums: Know When to Say No

Every day, the business aviation community sets out to achieve perfection in the highest levels of safe operations. For aviators, experts point out the multiple safety benefits that come from setting and adhering to personal pilot minimums.

Many pilots are familiar with the FAA’s VFR and IFR weather minimums. And while this information is critical, the FAA’s minimums and a pilot’s personal minimums are two totally different things.

“I see personal minimums as a structured form of risk management for any pilot. It needs to be comprehensive in its scope and include personal experience/currency, weather, aircraft status and the airport environment,” said Daniel Galvin, senior captain and safety and standards captain for Part 91 operator, MP Air. “It’s the established baseline risk that a pilot is willing to accept under the current conditions.”

For discussion purposes, personal minimums can be defined as a pilot’s safety buffer between all the elements (weather, equipment and health) required for a specific flight and the skills and confidence they’ve gained through training, experience, currency and proficiency.

Begin With an Honest Assessment

Many seasoned aviators will acknowledge that establishing personal pilot minimums starts with a thorough and honest assessment of their own flying skills and experiences – not what a pilot is trained for, but what a pilot is actually comfortable doing in the airplane.

“Some pilots may be trained to fly a CAT I ILS approach to minimums, but the question is, are they comfortable doing it today?” said Jason Starke, Ph.D., president of business aviation safety consultancy Starke afHG LLC. “So, you start with honestly assessing your current skill level. When was the last time you shot an approach to minimums? Was it in the sim or an airplane? Can you handle the situation in a way that doesn’t increase your anxiety?”

Starke said pilots should remember they’re dealing with much more than current weather conditions. “How are you feeling physically and emotionally? Are you tired, stressed or feeling down? You need to know how all that impacts your current skill base for the flight,” said Starke.

For pilots looking to create their personal minimums, Galvin said a good place to start is the FAA’s PAVE (Pilot, Aircraft, EnVironment and External Pressures) Personal Minimums Checklist at faa.gov. “It covers a lot of critical information and is a great starting point to understanding what your personal minimums list should look like.”

Cirrus Aircraft has a very informative “Know Your Limits” online skills/currency assessment tool that’s tailored more towards single-pilot operators, which is available at cirrusaircraft.com/knowyourlimits.

Another source to help establish a pilot’s minimums baseline might be their aircraft insurance carrier. “I think that any company worth its salt will have put some minimums on you until you have x number of hours in the airplane or situation,” Galvin said. “They’ll be happy to tell you where your baseline is.”

Pilots who aren’t sure they can honestly assess themselves should talk to someone who knows them and their flying skills – for example, a sim instructor or someone who has flown with them in similar flying conditions.

Also, pilots should ask themselves how their current skills compare with other pilots they’ve flown with. Having another pilot or two to talk to can be an extremely valuable way to help set personal minimums. A pilot who knows their limits and when it’s OK not to fly is the true sign of a professional.

The Keys to Single-Pilot Operations

While establishing and, more importantly, adhering to personal minimums is essential for every pilot, both Galvin and Starke stressed the enhanced benefits for single-pilot situations.

“Personal minimums are amplified for single pilots because they are solely responsible for every decision on the flight deck,” Starke said. “They really need to look very closely at each element of the flight to determine what their ‘cut and run’ minimums are.”

Beware of Mission Creep

Another thing that often gets single-pilot operators behind the eight ball is having too much familiarity with their aircraft and the routes they fly.

“Mission creep – letting your personal minimums creep down below your actual skill level – gets everybody, because they know the aircraft, route or approach so well,” Galvin said. “That’s a tough one to control because it’s part of your ‘routine.’ You always ‘get that same approach,’ until you don’t, and then you’re not prepared.”

Galvin also suggested that when faced with anything unfamiliar, especially with IFR operations, pilots should follow the same guidelines Part 121 operators use with new captains: Add at least an extra 100 feet and a quarter-mile visibility to the published minimums at any airport.

Both experts stressed this key point: Today’s personal minimums will not be the same for pilots now as they will be next month or next year. Any increase or decrease in currency will directly impact minimums.

“Your personal minimums today may not be the same as they were six months ago. You need to continually reassess your current skills, whether they have increased or decreased,” Starke said. “It’s absolutely a sliding scale. I’ve seen it throughout my career. As a pilot’s skill changes, so do their minimums.”

Flight Crews Should Share and Compare

Of course, determining personal minimums can be a bit of a balancing act when crews share and compare their individual levels of competency, especially in situations where the two pilots are unfamiliar with each other.

“The two pilots need to discuss and agree upon these minimums before boarding the airplane,” said Galvin. “Once they’re on the flight deck, they must be on the same page.”

“Shared crew minimums are different from personal minimums. If either pilot isn’t 100% up to the flight, then that automatically increases the minimums for that flight,” Starke said. “I wouldn’t feel good about shooting an approach to minimums if my copilot was at all distracted by an outside situation.”

Be Transparent With Passengers

And, speaking of sharing the flight’s minimums, it’s essential to notify passengers. If the weather may be an issue at their intended destination, the flight crew is responsible for informing the passengers as early as possible.

“You never allow any outside pressures to impact your minimums,” Galvin said. “Passengers may perceive them as negotiable, but any change makes them arbitrary and irrelevant.”

“The more transparency you have with your primary [passenger], the better for everyone,” said Starke. “There is nothing worse than passengers having an expectation and then learning halfway there that plans are changing.”

“Also, having strong leadership that supports your strict adherence to your minimums helps a lot,” Starke said. “Passengers will get angry, and you need to be able to say, ‘I know you don’t like it, but I cannot break minimums for any reason.’”

Review NBAA’s Single-Pilot Risk Management Guide at nbaa.org/risk-management.