Originally Posted by
450knotOffice
Thanks for the refresher course, JohnBurke. I started in the airline world 31 years ago in turboprops, and flew them for years through Tornado Alley, Florida, and the eastern 1/3 of this country (west coast for many years too, but the western US is nothing like what lies east of the Rockies, in terms of thunderstorms). I quickly learned that I wanted to get my hands on as much info as I could, in terms of what it is, how it works, how to use it, and pitfalls to avoid. I read as many narratives on accident reports as I could (you remember Southern 242, I imagine - a great object lesson on how attenuation can lead a crew down a primrose path). I used to practice with the tilt control in each of the different types I flew back then (Saab 340, ATR), finding beam width, beam center, then playing around estimating radar tops from our lowly 15,000 feet or so as I scanned cells around us (usually while in the clear). I actively used to (and still do) look for signs of attenuation when scanning areas of weather, and there were times when we’d be at 15,000 feet or so, out over the gulfstream headed to Nassau from Miami, at night, in continuous pouring rain - with our returns attenuated out beyond about 15-20 miles or so - and about the best we could do was constantly look for areas on the screen that would look like the edge of the rain was moving in toward us somewhat, then move away from that area, fully knowing that in reality, it was greater attenuatio presenting us a possible sucker hole. With nothing but ocean out there, there usually wasn’t enough return even in rough seas to get a useful ground return.
I’ve used the same techniques with the RJ’s, 737’s, and now some of the older Airbuses I occasionally fly. The newer models have that amazing Multi-scan technology, which works so well, so I usually just leave it in Auto and let the electronics present me with a really useful picture. Not always, though. Sometimes the old school in me wants to go back to manual for a few sweeps, working with the tilt and gain.