Weather

Question 1

Ceiling Levels

Answer 1

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

Question 2

AIRMET

Answer 2

Airmen’s Meteorological Information
-for most aircraft
-orange, blue, or purple on Foreflight app

Question 3

AIRMET Orange

Answer 3

AIRMET Tango
-Turbulence

Question 4

AIRMET Blue

Answer 4

AIRMET Zulu
-Icing

Question 5

AIRMET Purple

Answer 5

AIRMET Sierra
-IFR

Question 6

What is considered IFR?

Answer 6

Ceilings below 1000
Visibility below 3 miles
Limited visibility due to precipitation

Question 7

SIGMET
-What is it?
-2 types?

Answer 7

Significant AIRMET
-for all aircraft
-never fly
-convective and not convective
-convective: thunderstorms, squall lines
-nonconvective: such as a volcanic eruption, sand storms

Question 8

SPECI SIGMET

Answer 8

Special convective SIGMET
-very extreme
-never fly

Question 9

What is needed for a thunderstorm to form?

Answer 9

-sufficient lapse rate
-lift
-moisture

Question 10

WW

Answer 10

Weather Watch Bulletin
-as needed
-tornado watches and warnings

Question 11

WH

Answer 11

Hurricane advisory

Question 12

CWA

Answer 12

Center weather advisory
-given in flight as needed

Question 13

PIREPS
-What are they?
-2 Types

Answer 13

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

Question 14

AIREP

Answer 14

Aircraft Reports
-orange with triangles on Foreflight
-urgent PIREP:
red exclamation mark

Question 15

FSS BRIEFINGS

Answer 15

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

Question 16

True/False If an AIRMET or SIGMET occur while in flight, it is your responsibility to become informed.

Answer 16

False
It is your responsibility to investigate, however, any new AIRMET or SIGMET will be shared by ATC or APPROACH.

Question 17

AWOS

Answer 17

-Automated Weather Observing System
-In depth info like precipitation indicator, dew point,
-Updated every couple minutes

Question 18

ASOS

Answer 18

-Automated Surface Observation Station
-winds aloft, main winds, condensation, atmospheric pressure
-feeds info to TAF and METAR

Question 19

TAF

Answer 19

-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

Question 20

2 Main Ways to Get Weather Info for Flight

Answer 20

ATIS OR AWOS

Question 21

METAR

Answer 21

Weather information
Updated every 55 minutes

Question 22

SPECI

Answer 22

-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.

Question 23

Winds and Temps Aloft Chart

Answer 23

-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

Question 24

METARS

Answer 24

Meteorological Airman’s Report
Contains data for temp, dew point, wind direction, speed, precipitation, cloud cover, heights, visibility, and barometric pressure

Question 25

How to Read a METAR

Answer 25

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.)

Question 26

What is considered VFR? MVFR?
What is considered IFR? Low IFR?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

As a certificated private pilot, what category of flight weather conditions can we fly?

Answer 27

VFR and Marginal VFR

Question 28

How to decide what weather conditions you can fly in?

Answer 28

Observe POH minimums and then determine personal minimums based on experience, comfort, and skill.

Question 29

What are your personal minimums?

Answer 29

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

Question 30

What is a ceiling? (Word for word)

Answer 30

Height above the Earth
Reported as the lowest cloud layer or obscuring phenomenon
Reporting as broken or overcast
And not as thin or partial