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FAA Flight Instructor Ops Forum 2014 - Got Weather?
- 2. Spotlight Accident: No weather briefing
- 3. Spotlight Accident: Weather conditions
- 4. Spotlight Accident: Result With a pre-flight briefing, the result may have been different
- 5. Required Preflight Action 91.103 — Preflight action. Each pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with ALL AVAILABLE INFORMATION CONCERNING THAT FLIGHT. This information must include— (a) For a flight under IFR or a flight not in the vicinity of an airport, weather reports and forecasts, fuel requirements, alternatives available if the planned flight cannot be completed.* *Always have an out…
- 6. WWeeaatthheerr--RReellaatteedd AAcccciiddeenntt CCaauusseess Questions: 1.In what percentage of total accidents is weather a cause or factor? 2.What are the Top 3 weather conditions which were a cause or factor in a weather-related accident?
- 7. Weather-Related Accident Causes A: In over 20% of the total accidents, weather was a cause or factor A: The Top 3: Adverse winds (52%); low ceilings/visibility (18%) and density altitude (5%) Source www.faa.gov/tv NTSB Weather Wise July 2012
- 8. Got Briefing? NTSB Study: In 41% of weather-related accidents, the pilot DID NOT obtain an adequate weather briefing. Questions: Why are pilots skipping this required step? Are we stressing briefings even for local flights?
- 9. What’s The REAL Purpose? The overall purpose of preflight planning is: To prevent surprises! Every pilot should ask: “Have I collected ALL the information I need to prevent surprises?” – If not, don’t go – If yes, update at least every 2 hours
- 10. New Item on NTSB’s 10 “Most Wanted” List May, 2014 •NTSB: NWS and FAA should do a better job of identifying and communicating hazardous weather information to pilots – Useful, important supplemental weather information exists from NWS, but never gets to pilots during briefings •Recommendation: Get MORE weather information into pilots' hands. Including: – Local forecaster discussions – Center weather advisories – Mountain-wave reports
- 11. Our Goal “To prevent accidents by teaching pilots to analyze weather information from ALL available resources so that they can correctly make “Go/No-Go” decisions”
- 12. Discuss Our Goal! Which sources for weather do you teach? Which do the best job? Why do you think that?
- 13. Keep Talking… How can we can teach pilots to: • Obtain a better self-briefing? • Interpret the Information they receive? • Make a Go/No-Go decision? • Update their decision in flight?
- 14. Keep Talking… • What are some of the most important things we should teach about viewing weather charts? • Currency of the information • Where the weather is approaching from • Where it is moving, and when will it be there • How to recognize when it’s not moving as forecast, and what adjustments to their “plan” will be necessary
- 15. AviationWeather.gov: Something is missing! Use updated site www.aviationweather.gov
- 16. NTSB-Recommends: Center Weather Adv. NTSB recommends pilots be given Center Weather Advisories during their weather briefings
- 17. “Official” Weather: Lockheed-Martin Briefer analyzes while you watch the same maps. Get a TXT message if it changes after your briefing
- 18. Alternative Weather: CWSU “METAR Map” www.metarmap.us (Click a station to view detailed forecasts)
- 19. METAR Map: Forecasts For Nearly EVERY Airport! Choose from 3 different sources for airport forecasts, plus TAFs.
- 20. METAR MAP: Upper-Air Forecasts Use Skew-T diagrams to see forecast winds, temperature, and dewpoint aloft for ANY airport
- 21. NEXRAD Tips • Use non-NWS sites for better detail (i.e., Wunderground.com) • Use loop and storm track features to project cell movement • Some sites now forecast cell movement up to 6 hrs. • Lightning display is useful, but not easily found • DBZ chart: Different vendors use different colors to show reflectivity. (Airborne radar uses even different colors.)
- 22. NEXRAD Tips: Check Echo Tops Note the Echo Top heights…the higher the echoes, the stronger the storm
- 23. NEXRAD Tips: Watch Gust Fronts • Gust fronts can produce low altitude wind shear that can be hazardous to aircraft operations. • May travel 100’s of miles from the area of origin. Source: American Meteorological Society, NWS
- 24. NEXRAD Tips: Watch The Time! Remember that the in-cockpit NEXRAD display depicts where the weather WAS, not where it IS. The age indicator does not show the age of the actual weather conditions but rather the age of the mosaic image. The actual weather conditions could be up to 15 to 20 minutes OLDER than the age indicated on the display. You should consider this potential delay when using in-cockpit NEXRAD capabilities, as the movement and/or intensification of weather could adversely affect safety of flight.
- 25. Resources: FAA Weather Briefing Form Weather Briefing Form http://www.faa.gov/pilots/safety/media/ga_weather_decision_making.pdf
- 26. Personal Minimums Specifically related to weather http://www.faa.gov/pilots/safety/media/ga_weather_decision_making.pdf
- 27. To Sum Up... Our job is to teach pilots to: •Use ALL AVAILABLE RESOURCES, including the unofficial ones and those not on their Ipads •Brief OFTEN (update at least every 2 hrs.) •DOCUMENT by using an official weather brief (either DUAT/s, FSS…not Ipad) (cont.)
- 28. …To Sum Up We must teach pilots to: •Minimize surprises by being prepared •Minimize the risk by always having an “out” planned for each situation •Use personal minimums
- 29. This presentation would not have been possible without the generous help and support of the following: Your Forum Facilitator FAA Safety Team www.FAASafety.gov SAFE www.SafePilots.org Presentation Author(s) Emelia Bernava Dreamworks.lta@verizon.net Marc Coan (marc@skymachines.com) Chuck Gensler (cgensler@flywithia.com) Created June 2014
Editor's Notes
- PRESENTER: Thank you for taking the time to facilitate this important CFI Open Forum! This is a guided discussion using trigger questions that will be posed by you to engage participants in open dialogue. A Presenter’s Guide with additional information is included as part of this forum: Overview: Ask the question. Why are we here and what do we want to accomplish today? Answer: We want you to leave here today with a better understanding of what weather products are available so you can help educate every pilot you come in contact with and help reduce weather related accidents. Presenter’s Guide PDF contents: CLICK TO PROCEED TO NEXT SLIDE
- This accident highlights why pilots should get a weather briefing for even short flights.
- This accident highlights why pilots should get a weather briefing for even short flights.
- This accident highlights why pilots should get a weather briefing for even short flights. Now that we understand why a pre flight weather briefing is necessary, let’s look at what the Regulations say.
- This regulation can be seen as requiring pilots to get a preflight weather briefing. It also requires them to “always have an out” Discussion question: How do you teach your pilots to “always have an out?” Let several CFI’s tell how they do it and then move on.
- Have the audience take a few guesses at the answers to these questions
- Pilot training handbooks and courses, magazine articles, and CFI’s typically emphasize supposed “killer” weather factors like airframe icing, windshear, and thunderstorms, but, at least in 2007-2009, these accounted for only 7% of accidents. Discussion question: Are CFI’s placing enough emphasis on the most common weather-related accident causes?
- In spite of FAR 91.103, in a disturbingly large percentage of weather-related accidents, there was no record of the pilot ever having obtained a preflight briefing. Discussion question: Are CFIs doing a good job of teaching pilots to obtain at least some basic weather information (NWS local non-aviation forecast, TAF) before EACH flight? CFI’s should also stress that, to prove they complied with 91.103, pilots should either print the information they get from the internet and carry it with them, or record their N-number on one of the “official” briefing sites: FSS: lmfsweb.afss.com, DUAT/S: duat.com or duats.com, Fltplan.com, or other approved apps.
- Discussion question: How can CFIs better teach pilots to “prevent surprises?” Ask for some Instructors to explain how they do it? What do you teach your pilots that helps them prevent surprises?
- Discussion question: Where can pilots obtain information on weather hazards other than through “official” FAA breifings? Ideas: NWS local forecasts, hazardous weather outlooks, and local weather forecaster discussions. [Copy of the NTSB recommendation in Presenter’s Guide.] There will be a handout with links to various weather sources that can be used.
- Read the mission statement aloud. The next three slides feature discussion questions meant to get CFIs sharing what works for them with other CFIs in the audience.
- Allow about 5 min. for discussion
- Allow about 5 min. for discussion
- Allow about 5 min. for discussion.
- The Aviation Digital Data Service at AviationWeather.gov provides pilots with charts and all of the elements which might be in a weather briefing. HOWEVER, it does not record your N-number and therefore is not an official weather briefing site. Therefore, it should be considered “supplemental” weather information. It is NOT enough to satisfy FAR 91.103, yet many Ipad apps use exclusively. From the site: “Currently, the information contained here does not meet the FAA requirements for a pre-flight weather brief. Therefore, it's important that pilots still call and obtain a briefing from an FAA Flight Service Specialist”
- Discussion question: How many of you have seen or use the Center Weather Advisories? See www.aviationweather.gov/cwamis. The May 7 NTSB recommendation discussed on Slide 10 specifically recommended pilots be given Center Weather Advisories in order to discern CURRENT, regional weather hazards.
- Many pilots do not use the Lockheed-Martin site because they don’t know it exists. It provides an excellent selection of weather maps. A pilot can literally look at these while having an FSS briefer analyze what is being shown. The pilot’s N-number will be recorded.
- This map is produced by the Oakland Center Weather Service Unit, the METAR Map is a pilot's and controller's one-stop shop for quick weather info. Stations are color-coded for VFR, MVFR, IFR, and LIFR conditions; mouse over a station to read it’s current METAR and TAF. Click a station to get detailed weather information explained on the next slide.
- The quickest way to get both official TAFs for major airports and unofficial non-TAF forecasts for almost any airport with weather reporting is by clicking on the airport and then on the NWS and Guidance tabs. (Presenter, point to the Guidance Tab at the top right.) Also available are nearby PIREPS, historical observations for the past 24 hrs-30 days, and an NWS satellite image for the region. Pilots can choose from three different computer weather models which provide different forecasts which can be compared and contrasted with each other and the TAFs and Area Forecast.
- By clicking the “RUC Sounding” tab on the METAR Map’s airport pages, pilots can view a current Skew-T diagram for that airport. (Forecast Skew-T’s are available at http://rucsoundings.noaa.gov/gwt/.) The Skew-T, or sounding chart, is a vertical snapshot of temperature, dew point and winds above a point on the earth. At first glance, a SkewT appears to be complex, but pilots only need to know about a few lines and their relative positions, or orientations, to obtain valuable information about cloud bases and tops, freezing temperatures, icing zones, fog, inversions, and winds. A how-to article is available at http://aviationweather.gov/general/pubs/front/docs/feb-04.pdf There is also training available at this website: http://www.theweatherprediction.com/thermo/
- There are many Apps like RadarScope, RadarCast, and Intellicast that offer many new and different radar features, including lightning display and forecast radar. Find some you like and show them to the Pilots you work with. The NWS has the poorest radar display; no forecast, no lightning, and the new “Super Resolution” NEXRAD products are not available on either NWS sites or most commercial sites. Sites: Wunderground.com is a favorite for zooming. Intellicast.com features a 30-min. forecast radar product. The AOPA weather site is using Jeppesen weather and Jeppesen offers a 6-hr. forecast product. http://weather.cod.edu/satrad/ offers the new “dual polarization” products like Super Res.
- Shown is a screenshot from the Wundermap feature at www.wunderground.com. Click on a storm and you will also get the speed it is traveling, in what direction, the max reflectivity, and the prevalence of hail. Worst storms: Those with hail, high radar reflectivity, high echo tops, and fast groundspeeds. (Note: Echo tops are not to be confused with cloud tops; echo tops are the height of precipitation.)
- Pilots should avoid departing an airport which is within 25 n.m. of a severe thunderstorm unless they know that the gust front has already passed or does not exist. Now that we have discussed Preflight weather sources let’s look at an inflight potential problem.
- The NTSB warns that accidents have been caused by pilots relying on airborne displays (XM, etc.) which are displaying composite or mosaic images of the weather which are much older than the actual conditions. This information can be so stale that it can’t be trusted. XM radar is for “strategic” thunderstorm avoidance (general location and movement in a region), and not “tactical” avoidance (steering around individual storm or cells). For tactical avoidance, only airborne weather radar and lightning detectors should be consulted. Do not fly in the clouds if there are imbedded thunderstorms unless you are sure you can avoid them. The best practice is to be out of the clouds so you can visually see the storms.
- Think of it as a checklist of the most basic information which should be included in a weather briefing. Please take a look at the GA weather decision making pdf link and share with the pilots you work with.
- Discussion Questions: Do you teach pilots to set personal minimum for surface winds? Turbulence? Winds aloft? Do you teach them to consider adjusting their minimums before each flight? Do you teach them to constantly do a risk assessment as they are flying? Always deciding continue or divert?
- Well, we have covered quite a bit of material today so let’s summarize.
- Here are some key points you need to stress when working with the pilots you come in contact with.
- THIS SLIDE: Acknowledgments: We would like to thank FAASafety.gov, SAFE, and the Instructors that helped put this presentation together. PRESENTER: Thank the many hard working volunteers who make this and other free educational forums possible! Be sure to acknowledge the host of the event. CLICK TO END PRESENTATION