Originally Posted by
WMU av8tor
As a new IFR pilot I thought I should decide on some personal minimums required for flight into actual IFR. This is what I came up with for now, I plan to slowly lower the minimums as I gain experience. (most of my IFR flying will be in a basic minimum 91.205 equipped C172. I did all my training in a glass cockpit, autopilot equipped SR20. This is why some of my minimums are so high, due to the fact that I don't have any of the aids in my C172 that I had in the SR20)
Clouds Takeoff Minimums: >= 1000ft AGL
Visibility: >= 3 Miles
Fuel: 1 Hour Reserve After Alternate
Alternate WX 1hr before/1 hr after ETA: >=1000ft AGL 3 Miles Visibility
Sleep: 6 Hours or >
Currency in A/C: 2 hours in last month
Destination Minimums: 1000ft AGL 2 miles Visibility 1 Hour Before/After ETA
Known Icing: Cancel
Thunderstorms or CB Clouds: Cancel
I'm still working on them now. What do you all think of them? Too high? Too low? Just right?
Those are well thought out and very reasonable. What about night? Will that change your mins? What's your definition of known icing - a PIREP or Forecast. Thunderstorms can be isolated, scattered, or embedded sometimes you can weave around them, sometimes you can't.
Congratulations!