Wind shear is defined as a change in wind direction and/or speed over a very short distance in the atmosphere. This can occur at any level of the atmosphere and can be detected by the pilot as a sudden change in airspeed. As a pilot you can be certain that
…Category: Weather
View All CategoriesWind shear is a sudden, drastic change in wind speed and/or direction over a very small area. Wind shear can subject an aircraft to violent updrafts and downdrafts, as well as abrupt changes to the horizontal movement of the aircraft. Today, we’ll go over the basics of this common weather
…As we’ve talked about before, being aware of the weather at takeoff, at your destination, and en route is a key part of flight planning and flying safety. By now you know which models to check before you leave, but an understanding of the basic elements of weather and
…This week: turbulence. Some degree of turbulence is almost always present in the atmosphere and pilots quickly become accustomed to slight turbulence. Moderate or severe turbulence, however, is uncomfortable and can even overstress the airplane. Today we’ll talk about its causes and share some best-practices when encountering turbulence. Words and
…Fog, just like clouds, is formed when invisible water vapor in the atmosphere condenses in the air into visible water droplets. You can best think of fog as simply a cloud that reaches the ground. As a pilot you are bound to encounter fog at some point, probably sooner than
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Out here in the Pacific Northwest, we’re used to what’s generally characterized as “bad” weather. And since we’re setting regional rainfall records right now, let’s talk about weather. Specifically, fronts.
As an air mass moves across bodies of water and land, it eventually comes into contact with another air mass
…Today we are going to spend some time on the subject of clouds. Understanding the various types of clouds is important to pilots as clouds are direct indicators of the type of weather that one can expect. Having the ability to understand and correlate the meaning of a particular cloud
…Today we’ll think about the effect of temperature on the weather. We’ve covered how solar energy from the sun drives all atmospheric and geological processes on Earth, so now we’ll address it’s role in atmospheric stability. Words and pictures in this post come from the FAA’s
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