"Snowbird" wrote in message
om...
| "C J Campbell" wrote in message
...
| We require 3000' and five miles visibility for all student solo flights,
| with maximum crosswinds of six knots. I recommend that new private
pilots
| maintain those minimums for some time, preferably until they start their
| instrument training.
|
| Just out of curiousity, what do you recommend with regard
| to runway length?


Our school requires instructor permission for runways of less than 2000
feet. The FBO does not allow operation of any of its aircraft from unpaved
runways, although I can take my own airplane anywhere I want. We also
require that rented airplanes stay within Washington, Oregon, and Idaho,
although exceptions are made on a case by case basis.

I also will not sign off on a cross country that takes a student pilot over
the Cascades unless I am satisfied with his mountain flying abilities. The
Cascades are very dangerous for inexperienced pilots. You can find extreme
wind shear, turbulence, blind canyons with unforecast pockets of IFR, and
constant mountain obscuration. But the worst danger is the icing, which is
so bad that when the Concorde was being developed it was brought over here
for testing in severe icing conditions.

Among renter pilots at TIW, special VFR is routine. We get a lot of low
clouds that hang right over the field and you can see sunshine out over the
water just off the end of the runway.