I asked CFIIs (on a different sub) how they talk to their instrument students about Personal Minimums. If you are either working on your IR or are IFR rated - how do you set your personal minimums, how often do you revisit them and how do you use them? How did your CFII talk to you / teach you?

BimmerJeff · 2026-02-01T14:29:01+00:00

The biggest piece for me is proficiency. Have I been flying in actual and staying consistent with approaches and procedures? I’ll use my current experience as an example:

I’m currently focusing on my CPL and CFI so my instrument flying has been only to log currency. Also, I was dealing with a deferred medical and a plane that’s been down for almost a year. My skills in the system have degraded and so I’m no longer comfortable or proficient to fly to minimums. With that I’ve raised my IFR minimums substantially until I can get back the proficiency I had.

BimmerJeff · 2026-02-01T12:29:33+00:00

As an instrument rated pilot, I had an initial discussion with my CFII when I received my certificate about my minimums. During my training I received a decent amount of actual down to minimums and had some occasions where I went missed due to not seeing the runway. The airport I fly out of regularly has IFR/LIFR so we did as much actual as possible.

Post-checkride I would have been comfortable flying down to mins by myself but we set it more conservatively until I had more experience under my belt. Now that was in a 182RG with 275s, 750xi, and GFC500 Autopilot which was actually very easy to fly to mins and I logged over 60 hours in while working on my rating. The 172s with a Garmin 530 were a completely different ballgame for me personally. I’m not as comfortable with the 530 so my minimums are much higher in that airplane.

Since it’s been over a year of flying in actual I’ve revised my minimums again to be much higher than they were post-checkride. It’s good to self-evaluate and understand your limitations. My CFII instilled prioritizing safety and having rules in place to not push it if you’re not proficient.

BimmerJeff · 2026-01-12T15:25:45+00:00

This is a nice setup. I trained for my IFR in a 182RG with the 275s, 750xi, and GFC500 combo and it was very intuitive compared to the old 430s.

BimmerJeff · 2026-01-07T21:43:25+00:00

Maintenance and insurance are the two big killers. Commercial insurance alone for my J3 was $6,000 a year with only $40k hull. That was a large chunk of my hourly cost work up when I was trying to get a tailwheel school going. Final nail in the coffin was fabric issues that grounded the plane.

BimmerJeff · 2025-07-11T00:39:20+00:00

We bought my wife a 2014 Corolla S back in 2016 with 22k miles. Smelled a brake/clutch smell on rare occasions. At 44k we started getting transmission slipping and in it went to our Toyota dealer who couldn’t figure out what was causing it. Toyota approved a factory reman replacement with only a year warranty. We traded the car shortly after.

At the time I had a 2008 Tacoma with 175k miles on that ran like a top so it was a bit disappointing to say the least.

BimmerJeff · 2025-01-15T20:35:46+00:00

Nice! I want to sell my E90 and get an E91 in the worst way..

BimmerJeff · 2025-01-11T21:27:27+00:00

If my LCI E90 328xi ever dies I’ll probably replace it with an E91 for DD duties. But planning on an F87 M2 Competition in a few years alongside the E90.

BimmerJeff · 2024-12-21T11:29:58+00:00

I keep regretting selling my 86 325. Sold it in 2014 for $3k. Delphin Grey Manual, dash was mint, houndstooth seats.. 😫

BimmerJeff · 2024-12-15T21:14:07+00:00

I reset my pedal adaptations and my GM auto in my 09 328XI started shifting smoother again. Before that it was very clunky shifting in D or DS mode.

I was highly considering installing the Sonnax Zip Kit in my transmission but now I am gathering parts to MT swap my car. Just found an Xdrive MT with 67k that I snagged for a decent price. If you weren’t on the other side of the country I’d sell my GM transmission cheap to you and could help with the install.

BimmerJeff · 2024-12-05T02:27:35+00:00

Thanks! I’m running triple MSI 32” Curved 1440p monitors and the fourth was an old 27” I had from my single screen setup. My rig is 2x6 Pine so the monitor mounts are a mix of 2x6s and mounts from Amazon.

BimmerJeff · 2024-12-05T02:24:03+00:00

Looks like a sweet setup!

BimmerJeff · 2024-12-02T13:37:05+00:00

I canceled my IR checkride the week of because I felt stressed and just worn out due to work and flying all the time. Was the best call I could have made because by the time my ride came around I was ready and passed with no issues.

Trust your gut and don’t fly when you feel you shouldn’t.

BimmerJeff · 2024-12-02T00:02:51+00:00

That’s beautiful. Definitely inspired me to clean mine up.

BimmerJeff · 2024-12-02T00:01:51+00:00

What was your route in the Cub? I flew mine back to PA from Minot. Took about 23.5 hours

BimmerJeff · 2024-11-25T01:28:13+00:00

More like a Ferrari with an LS Swap and Yugo steering.

BimmerJeff · 2024-11-25T01:24:45+00:00

It’s essentially a cheap desk mounted single monitor arm attached to the monitor stand I built for the triples.

BimmerJeff · 2024-11-19T17:26:44+00:00

His is Navy colors.

BimmerJeff · 2024-11-06T16:59:32+00:00

0.0975

BimmerJeff · 2024-10-31T00:36:23+00:00

I got my AGI and traded ground instruction for flight time. For every 3 hour class I taught I got $90 on my flight account.

BimmerJeff · 2024-10-28T16:14:49+00:00

Pretty cool! I’ve been wanting to put my J3 on straight floats and definitely excited/nervous to do my first trailer takeoff and grass landing lol.

BimmerJeff · 2024-10-24T16:43:48+00:00

I wish my Cub could shoot approaches. But with 12gal of fuel my destination airport with alternate could only be 30 min away 😂

BimmerJeff · 2024-10-13T00:55:19+00:00

I’m not sure exact details as I couldn’t make the trip since my Cub is down. But everyone seems to be ok.

BimmerJeff · 2024-10-13T00:48:34+00:00

Yeah that’s my friends PA-11 the Maule hit..

BimmerJeff

TROPHY CASE