[CFI Question] What aviation weather training do you provide primary students

AggieMike88

Touchdown! Greaser!
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The original "I don't know it all" of aviation.
An email announcement about an upcoming aviation webinar had me recalling the amount of education I got on aviation weather when I was a primary student.

Which was not a whole heck of a lot.

I was shown how to understand the point observations of a METAR and a few of the forecast tools like the FA and the TAFs. But very little on how to find info on weather trends, weather products of significance, or how to interpret these items to make a go-no go decision.


So, for today's discussion...

1a) [CFI's], how much aviation weather education to you provide your primary student?

1b) [Non-CFI's], how much weather education were you provided as a primary student?

2) Would providing an increased depth of aviation weather education to the primary student be of value to the fledgling pilot?

3) if 2 is a "yes", what areas of aviation weather would you label as "must know", "should know", "it would be good to know", and "can be taught during instrument flying training"​
 
Question motivation also comes from my plans to one day obtain my CFI credentials.

My hope is to provide not only the required training to pass their checkride, but also the depth of knowledge in various areas to be a good aviation decision maker. Especially on weather since that's the environment we operate in.

So for me it is valuable to learn about what other CFI's do on this topic, and their thoughts on how deep to dive into the rabbit hole.
 
Much is reading, another part is going over simulated flights and seeing if they would be a go or no go.

Also never put any limitations on my students, they just had to call me and brief me on their flight before, I never had one want to go up in weather I would have said no to, I have had a few half way through the brief scrub it themself.

A little IMC time is nice at some point, having a IIMC plan, trending altimeter settings and winds, having landmarks for visibility, weather cams and some of the unofficial stuff.
 
I took college courses on weather so I’ll probably tend to show them too much, since it’s a hobby of mine.

But as James said, you’re really stepping them through looking at various sources for weather as inputs to a go/no-go decision.

And FAA says they need to be familiar with all of the official sources. There’s better sources that can also be used, but they should know info about the official ones like how often they’re updated, how to read them, etc.

With the changes that have happened over the years, Aviation Weather is in dire need of an update.
 
I go in depth with my students. Maybe more than they want.

1a) more than required to pass the knowledge test/check ride

1b) I did self study, and went way more into weather than what my CFI had probably learned himself.

2) Only if they are open to it. Can't put 4 gallons of water in a 3 gallon bucket.

3) All of it. LOL Probably save SKEW-T stuff for instrument training.
 
Even now with my IR rating I feel like I could know a lot more about weather. In all fairness, I did a lot of self study and did my best to learn about weather. That said I wish my instructor went over weather in detail. I thought about joining avwxworkshops and learning as much as I could from there.
 
I have a blue card with a hole in it. I hold the card up and look at the sky. If the card matches the sky then it is okay to go fly.
 
I have a blue card with a hole in it. I hold the card up and look at the sky. If the card matches the sky then it is okay to go fly.
I'm surprised you didn't post photos of your weather rock and weather chain.
 
I'm surprised you didn't post photos of your weather rock and weather chain.
I have had to discontinue use of those fine instruments because they lack a certain amount of portability.
 
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