Originally Posted by
BoilerUP
Business & Commercial Aviation - "Using Weather Radar to Counter FL Cells"
I consider myself a reasonably smart guy, but I've never understood the Trammel method of doing mental mathematics to use a radar while you're busy flying an airplane.
The guy who taught me how to use airborne radar and had a Ph.D in synoptic meteorology
did understand it though...but didn't use that method while flying.
It takes a split second to do the math. It's very easy once you know how to do it. I'm curious what method your mentor used, more so because I like to expand my knowledge on the subject, not because I am calling you out. Feel free to PM if you want.
Radar usage is mostly technique, and there is no "wrong" way to use it as long as you're avoiding the worst of the weather.
Of course not, you are 100% correct. The issue comes up when you are down in the thick of it shooting approaches. If you are overpainting the cell you might divert for no reason, costing hundreds or thousands in fuel costs alone. It's important to understand the science behind it IMO.
Or in the majority of cases people assume the RADAR "sucks" and go through the storm cell. One day they'll do that on a true storm and get the crap kicked out of them (and that is if they are lucky). The boy who cried wolf comes to mind.