Dear Rod:
I was going from ABC to XYZ one day. I checked the weather and all looked good. Midway, I saw puffy clouds in my path. I checked three AWOS stations and airports in the area and they all said clear below 12,000 feet. I was flying at 3,000 so I continued, but all of the sudden I was in a small cloud for two seconds. I descended, made a 180-degree turn, and headed home.
My question is, how can I find information on how low the clouds are and how far into my flight-planned path I might experience them?
Thanks,
No Name Please
Greetings Mr. NNP:
Your typical AWOS (ASOS or AWSS) station can be somewhat similar to the bad boys you see on the TV show Cops. When caught, these folks yell, “I didn’t do it! It wasn’t me!” But you know they did, right? So your AWOS may lie about the clouds surrounding the airport—but only because of the limitations of the technology.
The ceilometers can only know about clouds directly overhead at the time of the observation, and not a mile or two from the airport. That’s why pilot reports are essential for understanding the weather between reporting stations. Flight Watch, on 122.0 MHz, is a good resource for obtaining and giving these reports. Then again, you won’t always find relevant pilot reports for your selected route. So what can you do?
Well, it’s perfectly reasonable to look at an airport directory and call an FBO on the field to ask about the local weather. I’ve done this on many an occasion when I was sending a student on a flight to a rather isolated airport. I’ve chatted with fuelers, secretaries, and CFIs. All gladly offered a weather observation, and I recall very few yelling, “I didn’t do it! It wasn’t me!” And if you want to get creative, Google any live weather cameras (or any webcams) along your route. You’ll be surprised how useful these are for obtaining weather observations.
Finally, sometimes the best you can do is to fly and take a look while always remembering to leave yourself an out. You didn’t go wrong by making a 180-degree turn. On the other hand, I’m not sure why you allowed yourself to fly into a cloud during the day. Clouds are relatively easy to avoid, which is why the FAA expects you to avoid them as part of your VFR obligation. Welcome to the real world of flying. You just obtained some great experience, which will ultimately make you a better pilot.
Dear Rod:
I am a private pilot who has a question about the shutdown procedure in our school’s airplane. My instructor “gigged” me for not turning the mags off prior to pulling the mixture. She wants them grounded out prior to shutdown. The checklist (and the pilot's operating handbook, as I confirmed) calls for a mag check, then shutting off the avionics, pulling the mixture, and then turning the mags off, once the prop has stopped. I don’t know enough about engines to know if there is any potential harm in turning the mags off prior to pulling the mixture, even though this isn’t what the POH recommends. What should I do?
Thank you,
Penn
Greetings Penn:
Ahh, you’ve discovered that the CFI is actually mightier than the Penn, so here’s what you should do. Follow the instructions in the POH. Shutting down the engine by turning the mags off, then pulling the mixture, leaves unburned fuel in the cylinders. If a mag isn’t grounded properly, the prop might “kick” if manually rotated. This is, after all, why you’re doing a mag check before shutdown, right?
What you didn’t say was whether you pointed out the POH shutdown instructions to your CFI. Did you do that? If not, I’d show her the procedure and ask why she wants it done a different way.
Ask for an explanation and be sure to ask her about the unburned fuel left in the cylinders and why you’re doing the mag check in the first place. I’m sure she’ll see there’s a reason for the POH instructions.
Related Articles
