Strategic and Tactical Wx decisions

[Jeanie]

Because the air is relatively calm and heating even with little convective turbulence so the water vapor calmly rises to where the temp/dewpoint meet, turn into clouds and just sit there like friendly little sunshades to hide beneath....

~~~~~~ or to get popped about underneath - I call them pop corn clouds because sometimes you feel like you are a kernel of pop corn in a skillet...... now if you're a glider that's just handy lift

danka

 

[Henning]

~~~~~~ or to get popped about underneath - I call them pop corn clouds because sometimes you feel like you are a kernel of pop corn in a skillet...... now if you're a glider that's just handy lift

danka

Yeah, but those are just love taps compared to what the clear air puts out...

 

[Henning]

Keep in mind that microbursts are frequently generated from benign-looking cells as I describe in this e-Tip. I try to avoid flying under a convective deck...that's where all the significant threats are located and you may not see it until it is too late.



Unless of course the rainfall line is moving west, north or south.

Yeah, but the vast majority of the time when dealing with thunderstorm lines in North America, they are traveling in some component of West to East even if there is a north to south component. The great exceptions to this of course are during large cyclonic storms, but we were talking about his next cross country and I haven't heard anything from the Hurricane Tracking Center yet...

 

[Henning]

I assume you mean "large tropical storms." Yes, it is very quiet in the tropics. I'm sure the National Hurricane Center is gearing up for a very active season.

You must not do too much flying around here in the Southeast, especially Florida. In Florida there are times where the sea breeze can create storms from the south, east and west eventually meeting in central Florida. Here in the Southeast it is not uncommon to get morning convection that comes from the southeast only to see northwesterly convection in the afternoon. Same is true along the Gulf coastal regions.

True,and I do, but again, that doesn't reference the latitudes that his next cross country is on, and that is the flight for which he was asking about so I gave him the most important things in my view that will effect his tactical weather safety on this trip. The "Trade Winds" only cover a very small portion of the country, South Florida happens to be in it, that's why I live there.

 

[Henning]

I'm not referring to the trade winds. This is associated with a sea breeze. And yes, they are different and affect more than just south Florida.

Well, you are definitely more wise on this than I, that is for sure, so I will defer. Just sayin, and this is only from observation of flying around and under thunderstorms, if he follows the few things I said, it will spare him a large proportion of the major hazards of flying in the vicinity of T-Storms. In retrospect I probably should have said "behind" the rain, but that can sometimes be hard to determine from in flight when you don't have XM so I gave him "West of" because odds are great in my favor of being correct.

 

[Jaybird180]

I think I will go westbound in the morning and plan for 1p arrival and go eastbound 6p departure.

Firehose of data in this thread, but keep it coming. Wishing that I had some actual weather experience during my training. My training was biased toward no-go.

 

[Henning]

I think I will go westbound in the morning and plan for 1p arrival and go eastbound 6p departure.

Firehose of data in this thread, but keep it coming. Wishing that I had some actual weather experience during my training. My training was biased toward no-go.

That is often the case, I didn't have that option. I did my PPL while living on Catalina and did it in the rainy season.

 

[Jaybird180]

I wish I had more weather training during my primary instruction including the opportunity to apply that training to real world situations.

Formal training + opportunity to apply that training = valuable experience.

That's what I said

 

[Jaybird180]

I just ramdomly picked a day where convection developed in the general area of his destination. Take a look at this loop from the other day (note this loop will fall off the archive edge in a few days). What is the direction of movement of this convection? Not from west to east. It is more from north-northeast to south-southwest.

Also notice all of the outflow boundaries or gust fronts moving away from the convection especially in the center of the image. I counted five or six moving east, west and south all in the same general area. These boundaries are indeed low level events or hazards you'd discover while flying under or around any of this convection.

What is that blob in the center around JGX?

 

[steingar]

What do you think of providing the information via flightaware.com and just letting them figure out when to show up?

I should have said fltplan.com

You should maintain control of any and all flight decisions. You are the PIC. They probably wouldn't know what to make of any of this.

My normal procedure when I'm going to see anyone is to give them an ETA on takeoff and call when I arrive. Takes a few more minutes but is the best for everyone, at least in my opinion. You need a few minutes at the FBO to get all the stuff out of the airplane and let everyone dispose of spent fuel anyway.

Don't let these guys phase you, they've had their noses in gauges too damn long. You'd think nobody ever went flying before NEXRAD! Keep you eyes open and don't be afraid to call flightwatch. All the AWOS and ASOS frequencies are right on your chart. It is better to go early if you can, but spouses and female spawn can much that up quite nicely. Just keep your eyes open and don't be afraid to set down if you don't like what you see.

 

[denverpilot]

Adding on here... Don't be afraid to set down if you don't *understand* what you see, either.

Forecasts can be wrong. Don't cling to them mentally. I did that once and had a brief IMC encounter. My brain kept saying, "This wasn't forecast" instead of looking out the window and answering the more important question, "Do I want to be flying into this?"

100% agreed on the comment that too many folks think cockpit weather is the only way to fly. It's more *convenient* but you rarely can devote your full attention to it. You're flying the plane, first.

Most airports have Internet weather PCs. Land and use one if the weather appears to have gone a direction you weren't expecting or don't understand. Pull up the maps and see what changed. Make a new go/no-go. Change the route. Buy a new chart if you're going to fly off the edge of yours. Add some fuel. Etc.

Keep your brain engaged and ahead of the airplane a hundred miles, you're a cross-country pilot.

Let the airplane go somewhere your brain hasn't yet, you're a passenger.