Personal Minimums
Your personal weather minimums are the standards you set when you’re calm and clear-headed — before the pressure to fly sets in. PlaneWX uses them to score every briefing against your limits, not generic textbook values.
Why Personal Minimums Matter
FAA regulatory minimums are the legal floor — they define what you can do. Personal minimums define what you should do, given your experience, your aircraft, and your honest assessment of your own comfort. The FAA, AOPA, and every flight safety organization recommends that pilots set personal minimums above regulatory minimums and review them regularly.
“PlaneWX doesn’t tell you what to do. It tells you what you already decided — before the pressure set in.”
Two Limits, One Purpose: The Comfort & Max System
For each weather category (icing, turbulence, crosswind, ceiling, visibility, and storm avoidance), PlaneWX asks you to set two limits. This is the most important concept to understand:
Comfort Limit (Soft)
The point where you start paying closer attention. Conditions are still within your capability, but you’d want to be more vigilant, check forecasts more frequently, and start thinking about alternatives.
Think of it as:
“I’m still comfortable, but I’m watching this closely.”
Maximum Limit (Hard)
Your absolute boundary. If conditions reach or exceed this level, it’s a no-go for you, period. This is the line you drew when you were thinking clearly, and PlaneWX enforces it.
Think of it as:
“I don’t fly in this. No exceptions.”
The Caution Zone — Why the Gap Between Limits Matters
The space between your comfort limit and your max limit creates a caution zone. This is where PlaneWX gives you a yellow “CAUTION” instead of a simple green or red. It’s the early warning that conditions are getting close to your boundaries.
Conditions are below your comfort limit. Everything looks good for your experience and aircraft.
Conditions are between your comfort and max limits. You can fly, but this deserves extra attention and a harder look at alternatives.
Conditions have hit or exceeded your max limit. This is the boundary you set when you were thinking clearly. Trust past you.
Why the gap matters
If you set your comfort limit and max limit to the same value, there’s no caution zone. You go straight from green to red with no warning. That means PlaneWX can’t alert you that conditions are getting close to your limits — by the time you see a flag, it’s already a hard no. The caution zone gives you time to plan, find alternatives, or make the call early.
Example: How It Works for Turbulence
A pilot sets comfort to LIGHT and max to MODERATE.
This pilot gets an early heads-up when turbulence is forecast between light and moderate, giving them time to check PIREPs, consider a different altitude, or adjust plans.
A pilot sets both comfort and max to MODERATE.
No caution zone. Everything is fine until suddenly it’s not. The pilot misses the opportunity for early awareness and proactive planning.
Setting Your Limits: Category-by-Category Guide
There’s no single right answer — your limits depend on your experience, training, aircraft capability, and recency. Here’s how to think about each category:
Icing
Levels: NONE, TRACE, LIGHT, MODERATE, SEVERE
Comfort — ask yourself:
“At what level do I start actively monitoring conditions and considering my outs?” For non-FIKI aircraft, this is often NONE or TRACE. For FIKI-equipped aircraft, LIGHT is common.
Max — ask yourself:
“At what level am I not flying, regardless of equipment?” Even FIKI aircraft have limits. Your max should reflect where you personally draw the line.
Turbulence
Levels: NONE, LIGHT, MODERATE
Comfort — ask yourself:
“At what point do I start thinking about altitude changes, passenger briefings, or whether this trip is worth the bumps?” Many pilots are comfortable in light turbulence but start paying attention when moderate is forecast.
Max — ask yourself:
“What’s my hard stop?” If your comfort is set to LIGHT, setting your max to MODERATE gives you a caution zone in between. Setting both to MODERATE means there’s no warning before the no-go flag appears.
Tip: If you’re comfortable flying in moderate turbulence, set your comfort to LIGHT and your max to MODERATE. This way you get a heads-up when turbulence is building — rather than going straight from “all clear” to “exceeds your limits.”
Crosswind
Values in knots. Your aircraft POH lists a demonstrated crosswind component — your personal limits should typically be at or below that number.
Comfort — ask yourself:
“At what crosswind do I start thinking about this more carefully?” Maybe it’s 12 kts — you can handle it, but you’re paying extra attention.
Max — ask yourself:
“At what point am I looking for another runway or another day?” This might be 18, 20, or 25 kts depending on your aircraft and skill level.
Ceiling & Visibility
These are especially important for VFR pilots and for IFR pilots evaluating approach conditions.
Comfort — ask yourself:
“At what ceiling/visibility do conditions shift from routine to requiring more focus?” A VFR pilot might set comfort at 3,000’ AGL and 5 SM. An IFR pilot might use lower values.
Max — ask yourself:
“Below what ceiling/visibility am I not comfortable departing?” Be honest. If the forecast shows your hard limit, you want to know now — not when you’re at the airport.
Storm Avoidance Distance
How far you want to stay from convective activity, in nautical miles. The AIM recommends at least 20 NM from severe thunderstorms.
Set this based on how much margin you want. 20 NM is a common minimum; some pilots prefer 30+ NM for added safety margin. PlaneWX uses this distance to evaluate whether convective activity along your route falls within your avoidance zone.
Common Setup Mistakes
Setting comfort and max to the same value
This is the most common mistake. When both limits are the same, there’s no caution zone. PlaneWX jumps directly from “everything’s fine” to “exceeds your limits” with no intermediate warning. You lose the early-awareness benefit that makes the two-tier system valuable.
Fix: Set your comfort one level below your max. If you’re comfortable up to moderate turbulence, set comfort to LIGHT and max to MODERATE. Now you’ll see a yellow flag when turbulence is in the light-to-moderate range — giving you time to prepare.
Setting limits too high “just in case”
Some pilots set very permissive limits thinking they’ll use their own judgment in the moment. The problem is that judgment degrades under pressure. The whole point of personal minimums is to make the decision before the pressure exists. Set honest limits that reflect what you’d actually be comfortable with on a normal day.
Never updating your limits
Your personal minimums should evolve with your experience. As you gain hours, get additional training, or transition to a new aircraft, revisit your limits. A 200-hour pilot and a 2,000-hour pilot in the same airplane may have very different comfort zones — and that’s perfectly appropriate.
Personal Minimums vs. Aircraft Minimums
PlaneWX supports both personal minimums (set on your profile) and aircraft-specific minimums (set on each aircraft profile). When both are defined, PlaneWX automatically uses the more restrictive value for scoring.
Example: Your personal crosswind comfort is 15 kts, but your Cessna 172 has a demonstrated crosswind component of 15 kts and you’ve set the aircraft limit to 12 kts. PlaneWX will use 12 kts (the more restrictive value) for scoring briefings in that aircraft.
Quick Reference: Setting Effective Limits
| Category | Comfort = “I start watching” | Max = “I don’t fly” |
|---|---|---|
| Turbulence | One level below your max | The most you’ll accept |
| Icing | One level below your max | Your absolute icing boundary |
| Crosswind | ~60–75% of your max | ≤ demonstrated crosswind |
| Ceiling | Where routine becomes careful | Your lowest acceptable ceiling |
| Visibility | Where you start paying extra attention | Your lowest acceptable visibility |
Where to Set Your Minimums
Personal Minimums
Go to Settings → Personal Minimums to set your pilot-level weather limits. These apply to all flights regardless of which aircraft you select.
Aircraft Minimums
Go to Settings → Aircraft → select an aircraft to set weather limits specific to that airframe. PlaneWX uses whichever limit is more restrictive.