Insights

How to be meteorologically savvy

Meteorology is a science, and while you are not expected to be a meteorologist, you must understand basic meteorology and be able to interpret official weather information. The current versions of FAA Advisory Circular 00-6, Aviation Weather; and Advisory Circular 00-45, Aviation Weather Services, are required for this task.

If you attempt to study these manuals when you start flight training, you will probably become bored and lose interest. Instead, start watching The Weather Channel on TV (including its weekly planner) and studying your newpaper's daily weather map. If you see a symbol that you don't understand, refer to the Aviation Weather Services manual.

After you develop a basic understanding of the daily weather across the entire country, start studying the Aviation Weather manual in order to understand why, where, and when these events occur. When you study aviation weather in this manner, you will learn with greater efficiency and far more enjoyment.

Eventually, your instructor will show you several sources for obtaining official aviation weather information: telephone or radio contact with FAA flight service stations, and Internet contact with one or more of the numerous aviation weather Web sites. Two excellent Web sites are the Meteorlogix service at AOPA Online, available to AOPA members, and Aviation Digital Data Service. To decipher this information, you must once again refer to the Aviation Weather Services manual.

How do you use all of this information before a flight? The following list contains the most pertinent steps to follow when weather is a factor. Common sense will allow you to eliminate some steps when the weather is obviously favorable.

• Seven days out-Start monitoring The Weather Channel's weekly planner.
• Forty-eight hours out-Use the Internet to monitor the various significant weather prognostic charts and the day-two convective outlook chart or the day-two convective outlook forecast (AC).
• Twenty-four hours out-Use the Internet to monitor terminal forecasts (TAFs) and the day-one convective outlook chart or the day-one convective outlook forecast (AC).
• Eighteen hours out-Use the Internet to monitor the TAFs, the area forecasts (FAs), and the surface aviation weather observations (METARs).

Unanticipated conditions can cause a forecast to become invalid. Pilots call this a busted forecast, so your first task is to validate the current forecast. Compare the current TAFs and FAs to the current METARs. If the forecast is correct or if the actual weather is better than forecast, you can treat the forecast with a high level of confidence. If you find a busted forecast, further investigation is needed. Why did it occur, and is an amended forecast available?

If the forecast looks good for your flight, your next objective is to check for hazardous weather. Those reports are contained in convective sigmets, sigmets, airmets, and urgent pilot reports (UUAs) as explained in the Aviation Weather Services manual.

• Twelve hours out-Call flight service and request an outlook weather briefing.
• Six hours out-Call flight service and request a standard weather briefing. You can file your flight plan at this time or wait until the next step.
• One to three hours out-Call flight service and request an abbreviated weather briefing for winds, pilot reports (UAs), and your en route weather. Use the Internet to monitor METARs and the radar summary, surface analysis, and weather depiction charts. File your flight plan if you have not already done so.
• Just prior to departure-Call flight service to see if there have been any late-breaking weather changes, or if any temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) have been implemented since your last weather briefing. You can also check for TFRs by location on the FAA's Web site. AOPA's Real-Time Flight Planner will show you if any TFRs are located along your route of flight.

Good pilots are weather wise. You started this process by watching The Weather Channel and reading your newspaper's daily weather map. Don't stop this activity. If you stay in tune with all the daily guesstimates, you'll have a better feel for the aviation weather information that you receive from official sources when you plan a flight.

Ralph Butcher, a retired United Airlines captain, is the chief flight instructor at a California flight school. He has been flying for 43 years and has 25,000 hours in fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. Visit his Web site.