A little trouble with Cross Country Planning

[benb172]

Hey guys, Quick question for ya.

I have a cross country flight that is departing tomorrow 9am EST. What would the winds aloft be for that time from in Boston (BOS) at 2500 and 5500ft?

Here is the Page:
aviationweather.gov/products/nws/winds/

I have always struggled with Zulu time conversions. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[teamcoltra]

http://www.zulutime.net/ -- it's easy after a while, subtract 12 from that and then see how far off it is from your timezone. Then you know how far you are off from zulu and then just remember that single number

 

[somorris]

Hi Ben.

2500 and 5500 aren't listed and I didn't interpolate if that is what you wanted. Just using 3000 and 6000 at 1400Z (your departure time, 0900 + 5 hours) I get 320 degrees at 14 kts at 3000 and 300 degrees at 22 knots at 6000. If you want the exact numbers you would need to interpolate, but for planning, I would think the nearest 500' would be close enough. It is just a forecast.

 

[MAKG1]

1-800-WX-BRIEF. They will be perfectly happy to give you an outlook briefing.

 

[Marauder]

Hey guys, Quick question for ya.

I have a cross country flight that is departing tomorrow 9am EST.

I have always struggled with Zulu time conversions. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

For Zulu time on the east coast, I find it easiest to either add 5 hours for standard time and 4 for daylight savings time. 9 am EST is 1400 Zulu. It does require you to learn military time.

Here are the winds for your 1400Z departure time

 

[benb172]

Awesome! Thanks for all of the help. Really Appreciate it!

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

1-800-WX-BRIEF. They will be perfectly happy to give you an outlook briefing.

Get used to doing this. Very Helpful.

 

[somorris]

your departure time, 0900 + 4 hours

Oops. Add 5 hours as Marauder correctly said.

 

[somorris]

It looked like to me the winds that were on the site Marauder used were different than the link you posted, Ben. Not sure why. I usually use the NOAA sites.

 

[Flymeariver]

would be better to pull via duat or duats . Then you can gather all your pertinent info

 

[somorris]

I just checked Foreflight, and it is very close to the forecast winds Marauder posted. Interesting.

 

[MAKG1]

would be better to pull via duat or duats . Then you can gather all your pertinent info

Well, all the "aviation" weather. There are better sources for some things. http://rucsoundings.noaa.gov can give you unofficial but much more useful data for icing, fog, winds, instability, etc.

 

[benb172]

1-800-WX-BRIEF. They will be perfectly happy to give you an outlook briefing.

Yeah, Will do.

 

[Scott@KTYR]

FltPlan.com is a good planning tool with winds aloft.

Another tool I use is the FlyQ App. Good weather including winds aloft.

Hey guys, Quick question for ya.

I have a cross country flight that is departing tomorrow 9am EST. What would the winds aloft be for that time from in Boston (BOS) at 2500 and 5500ft?

Here is the Page:
aviationweather.gov/products/nws/winds/

I have always struggled with Zulu time conversions. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jordane93]

1-800-WX-BRIEF. They will be perfectly happy to give you an outlook briefing.

yep and they will interpolate the winds for you at your altitudes