paul kgyy wrote:
I'm curious what Instrument Rated members of this group use for
personal minimums for takeoff and landing for single engine aircraft.

The question is prompted by a recent flight where the takeoff
conditions were 200 ft + 1 mile. That's lower than I've ever done
before, and it occurred to me that if I had any significant engine
problems, it was all over unless I was extremly lucky.

One of the risks you take in flying single engine night/IFR is engine
failure without the option of seeing your landing spot until you are
comitted. I know several people who have had this happen. Most of
them are still alive. One is not. The reality of engine failure
fatalities is this - most of them do not occur due to unsurvivable
terrain. Most of them occur due to failure to attain/maintain flying
speed.

In my opinion, there really isn't much difference (in a single engine
airplane) between taking off into 500 ft ceilings and 50 ft ceilings.
Either way, you don't have the altitude to do anything but land pretty
much straight ahead. Either way, the chance of engine failure low
enough for it to matter is tiny. Look at it this way - you just ran up
your engine, and all indications were perfectly normal (I trust you
would not launch into IMC otherwise). The engine was fine on the
entire last flight (I trust you would not launch into IMC on your first
flight after maintenance). What are the odds the engine is going to
fail in the first two minutes of flight?

I would be a lot more concerned about extended flight over an area of
low IMC - that pushes up the exposure.

Most of my IFR and night flying is in a twin these days, because I'm
just not that comfortable with the exposure of flying a fast single
night/IFR. Doesn't mean I won't do it - I will do it when my plane is
down and I borrow one, and I will do it to train someone. I just
figure the more you do it, the better the odds that it will eventually
catch up with you.

Michael