Where’s my PIREP?

RyanB

RyanB

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I was out flying this afternoon and was on flight following with Memphis Center. I queued them up and said ‘Memphis Center Cherokee XXX has a PIREP’ the controller came back and said ‘Okay go ahead, sir.’

I relayed a short PIREP ‘Cherokee XXX is 27 SW of HCH, 6500ft, negative turb, smooth ride.’ She came back and said ‘thank you!’

I land about 45 minutes or so later and check the current PIREPs and there’s nothing in that vicinity at all.

So, do PIREPs have to be given to Flight Service for them to get entered into the Aviation Weather.gov database? I’ve done this a few times over the years with ATC and I’ve never seen my report represented.
 
Timbeck2 said:
Nobody cares about a smooth ride. They care about moderate to severe turb and icing.
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I had thought about that possibility, but I’ve seen a lot PIREPs that have the :
9C3CF06A-4917-48F6-ADCE-26D30BD6F85D.jpeg
symbol, so I figured, it’s worth a shot. ;)

So is this just a case where the controller didn’t feel it was important enough to put into the system?
 
RyanB said:
I was out flying this afternoon and was on flight following with Memphis Center. I queued them up and said ‘Memphis Center Cherokee XXX has a PIREP’ the controller came back and said ‘Okay go ahead, sir.’

I relayed a short PIREP ‘Cherokee XXX is 27 SW of HCH, 6500ft, negative turb, smooth ride.’ She came back and said ‘thank you!’

I land about 45 minutes or so later and check the current PIREPs and there’s nothing in that vicinity at all.

So, do PIREPs have to be given to Flight Service for them to get entered into the Aviation Weather.gov database? I’ve done this a few times over the years with ATC and I’ve never seen my report represented.
Click to expand...

They are supposed to get to FSS for dissemination.
In a nutshell, the Controller is supposed to relay them to concerned aircraft immediately and tell the Weather Coordinator who disseminates them. Here’s a couple references that give the details of how it’s supposed to work. Paragraphs that are EN ROUTE are for Centers, TERMINAL for Approach Controls/Towers and everything else is for both. Not real long reads, should take you about 5 minutes or so

https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/med ... r_Post.pdf
Read 2-6-2

https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/med ... r_Post.pdf
Read 6-3-1 and 18-25-1 thru 4, particularly 18-25-4 b.
 
Timbeck2 said:
Nobody cares about a smooth ride. They care about moderate to severe turb and icing.
Click to expand...

I do. Especially if the forecast said crappy and it turns out it isn't crappy. From the 7110;

NOTE−
Routine PIREPs indicating a lack of forecasted weather conditions, for example, a lack of icing or turbulence, are also valuable to aviation weather forecasters and pilots. This is especially true when adverse conditions are expected or forecasted but do not develop or no longer exist.
 
luvflyin said:
I do. Especially if the forecast said crappy and it turns out it isn't crappy. From the 7110;

NOTE−
Routine PIREPs indicating a lack of forecasted weather conditions, for example, a lack of icing or turbulence, are also valuable to aviation weather forecasters and pilots. This is especially true when adverse conditions are expected or forecasted but do not develop or no longer exist.
Click to expand...
I almost never give a PIREP unless the forecast is wrong (e.g. glass-smooth in a region with a turbulence AIRMET) or it's useful to IFR flights (e.g. tops).
 
ATC isn't going to enter them. Scenarios below:

Traveling in mild TB turned extreme 50 miles east of El Paso. I told El Paso approach as they'd be the ones telling nearby aircraft after checking in from a center handoff inbound.

Separate trip eastbound: Was getting hammered pretty good and told ABQ CTR I'd need a block altitude. They indicated a climb to 11,500 or higher the ride was smooth (I was trying 7500 and 9500) ... it was smooth as glass above 10500 ...
 
scottd said:
Actually meteorologists care a lot about a smooth ride. Negative reports of turbulence and icing are the most sought after and are the least reported. After the fact, researchers care a lot about these too. They are an important data point when designing a new tool or fine tuning a current one. Also, if I'm at 8,000 feet and getting beat up pretty bad and there's a negative report of turbulence at 10,000 feet, that's where I am headed. So, please, report those boring negative icing and turbulence conditions!
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And try to bypass ATC. As discussed already their batting average on getting them out isn't very good. Actually give it to them so they can get it out directly to pilots on the air. But go to FSS also. Or some App that get's the job done
 
Could just be up to the controllers’ discretion or memory. I’ve given a couple to approach control and once to a tower that were published.
 
“Operationally significant” does give the controller some latitude in reporting. Also, as of 2016, AFSS (minus Alaska) is no longer the disseminating agency for PIREPs. Controllers notify their sup / CIC and they type it into a long line dissemination (hub) system.
 
So on a nice and beautiful day you told ATC it was nice and beautiful, then wanted to see your report it was nice and beautiful?
 
I can hear it now as an aircraft checks in with Memphis Center, “Be advised we have a Pirep from a Cherokee # miles north of ABC at # thousand who reported nothing of concern”.
 
ATC gave me a pirep of light turbulence and +/-5 knots below 500' once. The reporting aircraft was a 172, I was in a large biz jet. I thought that was pretty amusing.
 
RyanB said:
I was out flying this afternoon and was on flight following with Memphis Center. I queued them up and said ‘Memphis Center Cherokee XXX has a PIREP’ the controller came back and said ‘Okay go ahead, sir.’

I relayed a short PIREP ‘Cherokee XXX is 27 SW of HCH, 6500ft, negative turb, smooth ride.’ She came back and said ‘thank you!’

I land about 45 minutes or so later and check the current PIREPs and there’s nothing in that vicinity at all.

So, do PIREPs have to be given to Flight Service for them to get entered into the Aviation Weather.gov database? I’ve done this a few times over the years with ATC and I’ve never seen my report represented.
Click to expand...

I looked through an archive for that date and didn't see one matching the data you provided. As others have said, suspect since your report was benign and assuming there was no active SIGMET or AIRMET that they didn't pass it.
Here's a handy source archive to look at PIREPS and other reporting:
https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/request/gis/pireps.php

Select the comma delimited file you can look at in Excel or Numbers (mac)
 
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