PHAK: 13. Aviation Weather Services, Encoding Pilot Weather Reports (PIREPS)

Question 1

1 XXX

Answer 1

3-letter station identifier
* Nearest weather reporting location to the reported phenomenon

Question 2

2 UA

Answer 2

Routine PIREP
UUA-Urgent PIREP

Question 3

3 /OV

Answer 3

Location
* Use 3-letter NAVAID idents only.
* a. Fix: /OV ABC, /OV ABC 090025.
* b. Fix: /OV ABC 045020-DEF, /OV ABC-DEF-GHI

Question 4

4 /TM

Answer 4

Time
* 4 digits in UTC: /TM 0915

Question 5

5 /FL

Answer 5

Altitude/flight level
* 3 digits for hundreds of feet. If not known, use UNKN: /FL095, /FL310, /FLUNKN

Question 6

6 /TP

Answer 6

Type aircraft
* 4 digits maximum. If not known, use UNKN: /TP L329, /TP B727, /TP UNKN

Question 7

7 /SK

Answer 7

Sky cover/cloud layers
* Describe as follows:
* a. Height of cloud base in hundreds of feet. If unknown, use UNKN.
* b. Cloud cover symbol.
* c. Height of cloud tops in hundreds of feet.

Question 8

8 /WX

Answer 8

Weather
* Flight visibility reported first:
* Use standard weather symbols:
* /WX FV02SM RA HZ, /WX FV01SM TSRA

Question 9

9 /TA

Answer 9

Air temperature in celsius (C)
* If below zero, prefix with a hyphen: /TA 15, /TA M06

Question 10

10 /WV

Answer 10

Wind
* Direction in degrees magnetic north and speed in six digits:
* /WV270045KT, WV 280110KT

Question 11

11 /TB

Answer 11

Turbulence
* Use standard contractions for intensity and type (use CAT or CHOP when appropriate).
* Include altitude only if different from /FL, /TB EXTRM, /TB LGT-MOD BLO 090

Question 12

12 /IC

Answer 12

Icing
* Describe using standard intensity and type contractions.
* Include altitude only if different than /FL: /IC LGT-MOD RIME, /IC SEV CLR 028-045

Question 13

13 /RM

Answer 13

Remarks
* Use free form to clarify the report and type hazardous elements first:
* /RM LLWS -15KT SFC-030 DURC RY22 JFK.