There’s a lot of weather information available to pilots, most of which we’ve already talked about. Here’s what Bob Gardner recommends you do with all of it in his textbook The Complete Private Pilot. And we recommend you bookmark these links!
Self-brief first, to get the big picture before
…I did the majority of my flight training in San Diego, CA. Yes, lucky me. Not only did I get to fly in such a beautiful area but I always had a killer tan. After my first week of ground school, my instructor had me get my first over-the-phone weather
…What’s new in the world of aviation weather products you ask? Well, the “Experimental Graphical Forecast for Aviation” (GFA) of course! As the title suggests, this product is in experimental form at the moment, but is up and running at AviationWeather.gov. The National Weather Service and FAA are asking
…Out here in the Pacific Northwest, there’s a saying: if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. Whether or not your weather changes as fast as ours does, knowing what to expect is still critical to flight safety. Radar helps us track weather nearly in real-time and make visual
…Observed weather condition reports are often used in the creation of forecasts for the same area. A variety of different forecast products are produced and designed to be used in the preflight planning stage. The printed forecasts that pilots need to be familiar with are the terminal aerodrome forecast (TAF),
…Just the other day I was on a commercial airline flight on my way home from vacation. Prior to departure, the captain came on the overhead to advise the passengers that we would be arriving about 15 minutes late due to headwinds along the route. Like the captain did, it
…This week, we’re taking another look at aviation forecasts and focusing on the terminal aerodrome forecast (TAF), one of the printed forecasts that all pilots need to be familiar with. TAFs are designed to be useful in the preflight planning stage. Here’s how the FAA breaks down a TAF in
…With increasing technologies and access to the internet it may seem to some that a telephone weather briefing is a little outdated. For some it may be, but for others it’s a great opportunity to speak to a weather briefing specialist to learn about the conditions along your route of
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