PearlPilot

Am I the only one who feels like there is so much to learn about the weather? The last time I read the chapters on weather was a while ago, and during planning for my recent XC trips, I realized that I need to brush up on my "weather skills" since I had trouble deciphering numerous kinds of weather reports... I did get back into reading and it certainly helped, but I am just overwhelmed by how much there is to learn...For those who will continue after their PPL it might not be as much of an issue but it is one of those things that you will need some serious brushing up on if left unattended.

What do you need to know about the weather and what do you not need to worry about? Reading a METAR, TAF, FA, obviously you need. But sometimes I feel like I am learning to be a meteorologist!

BoredwLife

Well there is a lot that you need to know. I will tell you something that I used to almost always require. I told each and everyone of my students to purchase Gleims Aviation weather and weather services. Gleim Publications :: Aviation Weather and Weather Services, 5th Ed. Product Details


This book puts almost everything you would need to know about the services and weather its self in a outline/note format. Although it is still 500 pages long, it is an invaluable resource and extremely easy to read. Take a look if you haven't seen it before.

Bri85

you need to know a great deal about weather ( thats a biggy), remember you are taking a machine up to the sky full of all sorts of elements. In all types of conditions. A lot of accidents happens because of WX, and that leads to pilot error ( poor judgment ) Do you want to become a statistic or you want to fly till you cant fly anymore.
BTW you need to know everything! and you need to worry about everything and plan for it; the day you are flying into something you dont know, thats when you are trouble.

Fr8DogDan

You need to know much about weather. AOPA had/has several free online courses about weather as well as a way to decifer those codes in the metars. Actually when you use them frequently they become like reading English. Do study well, so that you don't get caught without a way out. I plan for the worst at, especially, desitination so that if it is bad I have a way out or somewhere else to go. Divert when necessary. I remember numerous times that I've gone way way off my planned route to stay out of the weather.

250 or point 65

Actually, you will be a meteorologist.

This is the thing. I have found that learning about weather is one of the topics in aviation that is most dependent on the correlation level of learning. Unless you are using what you know about weather and making decisions with it, it's nearly impossible to remember what a cumulous mamma is.

Actually, I had read about mamma's before, but only saw one for the first time a couple weeks ago. Now I have a much better understanding of what they are, how they develop, and how to correlate them into an aviation decision.

So I guess what I'm saying is...weather understanding somewhat comes with experience and the more decisions you make.

Cubdriver

Absolutely true statement, Pearl. We have do mount a continuous improvement campaign in our understanding of weather. Arm up with standard books and videos and cover them again and again as time goes on, each time challenging yourself to a deeper understanding. It is one thing to look at the TAFs, look at the FA for your area, study a few prog charts and get a WX briefing... but do you really understand what's going on in the weather systems influencing your flight? There are typical weather patterns in every region of the United States and you can learn their habits and what to expect. Things like how Gulf Coast moisture and mountain waves affect weather in the Plains States, how the jet stream affects weather in most of the US and what it does in the winter vs. summer, and what drives weather in terms of cloud formation and air movement. The nice thing about being a pilot is that weather is actually an interesting subject as well as a useful one. Weather and aerodynamics are my favorite topics.

PearlPilot

Thank you very much Cub and the rest for your responses. AOPA does have at least 3 excellent courses in regards to the weather. No matter how many times I take it, I learn something new. Needless to say, the study of aviation is much different than college in that you will actually use everything you read and learn about. Weather is a big one!

hurricanechaser

Not only will you become a meteorlogist, but if you stick around long enough you'll become a A&P mechanic after the plane ineveitably breaks down on you, a salesman if you teach others how to fly, a computer programmer when the GPS or FMS decides too act funky on you, an Air Traffic Controller announcing your position in a non-radar environment, and paranoid.

I always advocate learning about the weather because its the one thing as pilots that we don't have control over. I think a very wise man once said know thy enemy, and the weather is defineitly not a friendly when your in the maelstrom. So go ahead and know thy enemy!

HercDriver130

One of the things I have always missed after I left military flying was the FULL wx briefing we were always able to get from the local base wx shop.....

USMCFLYR

I don't know if the USAF is presently any different; but with the *new* Navy Flight Weather Briefer system in place - we don't any get the benefit of a personalized weather briefing.
Also - I didn't think much of the service I was getting before it went to the internet. Once I was asking for winds aloft and found out the young briefer I was talking to couldn't get the information to come up on the computer and didn't know how to read the raw winds aloft format.
I like the system that I use when I go to FBOs across the country. I like to use the internet and the satellite pictures and route briefings and talk to a FSS weather briefer (someone who has more than likely been doing the job for a good amount of time) at the same time while I listen, ask questions, and then end with a "thank you".

USMCFLYR