Weather Flashcards
Ceiling Levels
Broken into eights:
Less than 1/8- CLEAR
1/8-2/8- FEW
3/8-4/8 SCATTERED
5/8-6/8 BROKEN
7/8- 8/8 OVERCAST
AIRMET
Airmen’s Meteorological Information
-for most aircraft
-orange, blue, or purple on Foreflight app
AIRMET Orange
AIRMET Tango
-Turbulence
AIRMET Blue
AIRMET Zulu
-Icing
AIRMET Purple
AIRMET Sierra
-IFR
What is considered IFR?
Ceilings below 1000
Visibility below 3 miles
Limited visibility due to precipitation
SIGMET
-What is it?
-2 types?
Significant AIRMET
-for all aircraft
-never fly
-convective and not convective
-convective: thunderstorms, squall lines
-nonconvective: such as a volcanic eruption, sand storms
SPECI SIGMET
Special convective SIGMET
-very extreme
-never fly
What is needed for a thunderstorm to form?
-sufficient lapse rate
-lift
-moisture
WW
Weather Watch Bulletin
-as needed
-tornado watches and warnings
WH
Hurricane advisory
CWA
Center weather advisory
-given in flight as needed
PIREPS
-What are they?
-2 Types
Pilot Weather Reports: routine and urgent
-routine:
cloud cover, visibility, light ice
-urgent:
severe turbulence, low level wind shear, heavy icing
-good for 1 to 2 hours
-given by another pilot who encountered these conditions
AIREP
Aircraft Reports
-orange with triangles on Foreflight
-urgent PIREP:
red exclamation mark
FSS BRIEFINGS
1-800-wxbrief
-Standard: current conditions, TAF, NOTAMS, Hazardous
-Abbreviated: if flight gets pushed back can request abbreviated so it doesn’t take the full time
-Outlook: anything further ahead than 12 hours, very inaccurate though
True/False If an AIRMET or SIGMET occur while in flight, it is your responsibility to become informed.
False
It is your responsibility to investigate, however, any new AIRMET or SIGMET will be shared by ATC or APPROACH.
AWOS
-Automated Weather Observing System
-In depth info like precipitation indicator, dew point,
-Updated every couple minutes
ASOS
-Automated Surface Observation Station
-winds aloft, main winds, condensation, atmospheric pressure
-feeds info to TAF and METAR
TAF
-Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts
-projected weather conditions for usually 24 hours
-within 5 nautical miles from airport
-TAF codes is read the same as a METAR
-0518/0618 is 24 hour range it is good for
-FM060700 and the day and time such as 6th day at 700
-P6SM means plus 6 statute miles which means 6 or greater nautical miles
2 Main Ways to Get Weather Info for Flight
ATIS OR AWOS
METAR
Weather information
Updated every 55 minutes
SPECI
-If weather changes significantly sooner than the METAR sent every 55 minutes, a SPECI is sent out
-Wind shift by 45 degrees
-Squalls
-Tornadoes etc.
Winds and Temps Aloft Chart
-Airport identifiers
-Feet of elevation across top
-4 digit number
-in 3000 feet, don’t give temp because same as ground level
-heading of wind comes first then followed by velocity
-EX: 2022, means 200@22 knots
990012 means not from a specific direction and less than 5 knots of wind, temps are 12
METARS
Meteorological Airman’s Report
Contains data for temp, dew point, wind direction, speed, precipitation, cloud cover, heights, visibility, and barometric pressure
How to Read a METAR
Always formatted the same:
Anything after the RMK will not be the same and is more of a notice to airmen
Color determines the visibility rating.
K and letters is the airport
05 the day
1830 Z is the universal zero time in Greenwich in military time minus 5 for central time
AUTO- means automated system
Direction and velocity in knots of the wind
-13008KT means coming from heading 130, and 8 knots
-090V180 is the actual wind directions that they averaged out to get 130, so coming from 90 to 180 for heading
10sm is 10 statute miles for visibility
VCTS thunderstorms (vertical cumulonimbus)
-RA is light rain RA moderate rain +RA is heavy rain
Few100 (few clouds at 10,000 feet; always add two zeros to the number)
OVC 110 (overcast at 11,000 feet)
28/22 temp/dew point
A3003. A is altimeter setting which is 30.03
RMK stands for remarks (A02 is precipitation discriminator, LTG means lightning, DSNT means in the distance, N and W means direction to find these issues, RAB13- Rain began at 13, P0000 is given in 10ths of inches and is the amount of precipitation, T02830222- these numbers are the actual temp and dew point such as 28.3 and 22.2 here.)
What is considered VFR? MVFR?
What is considered IFR? Low IFR?
VFR:
-5 miles or greater visibility
-Ceilings greater than 3,000 ft AGL
Marginal VFR:
-3-5 miles of visibility
-Ceilings 1,000-3,000 ft AGL
IFR:
-Less than 3 miles of visibility
-Ceilings less than 1,000 ft AGL
Low IFR:
-Less than 1 mile of visibility
-Ceilings 500-1,000 ft AGL
-Need special training/specially equipped plane to fly
-Commercial jets can fly this
As a certificated private pilot, what category of flight weather conditions can we fly?
VFR and Marginal VFR
How to decide what weather conditions you can fly in?
Observe POH minimums and then determine personal minimums based on experience, comfort, and skill.
What are your personal minimums?
Altitude: 4500’ MSL
Headwind: 22 knots of headwind
Tailwind: Have not done with instructor so no tailwind at this time.
Crosswind. Up to 15 knots
What is a ceiling? (Word for word)
Height above the Earth
Reported as the lowest cloud layer or obscuring phenomenon
Reporting as broken or overcast
And not as thin or partial
