Tardy PIREP

Jaybird180

Jaybird180

Final Approach
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Dec 28, 2010
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Jaybird180
How long after a flight can I file a PIREP? No idea why I didn't think of doing it lastnight, but the actual conditions were anything BUT clear as forecast. 5 mins into the flight I was thinking it was so hazy that VFR-IMC may sneak up on me if I put my head down more that 5 seconds.

I could see perhaps 25 miles away air-ground, but no horizon and really hazy. This was at dusk and at dark, both ways lastnight.
 
I'd probably skip it if it were me. No help in knowing something that happened yesterday.
 
IIRC, PIREPS fall out about two hours after the time of observation, so reporting something that you observed last night seems pointless to me.
 
I thought that giving it (albeit late) would help with the modeling for future forecast purposes.:dunno:
 
ooh, new idea here. Stay with me...

PIFORE

It's what a pilot thinks is going to happen someday.
 
I think the potential of giving a PIREP for conditions experienced in the past has the potential to do more harm than good. It's far to easy for the transcriber to misinterpret what you mean, or to mess up the time. In my opinion, it is a great practice to report conditions you experience in flight, but don't use the PIREP system to send a message to a forecaster that his forecast was not correct. Use the telephone for that.
Jon
 
How do you recommend this is done? What specific words should be communicated?
 
scottd said:
...the last thing we want is to have a PIREP pop up for today when it was meant for yesterday.
Click to expand...


Scott, I am not seriously suggesting he call a weather service office as a means to report weather or to complain about a forecast. I do agree with you on the utility of PIREPS; in an area where reporting stations are few and far between, I file one on almost every single flight. In fact, if you find a detailed report by an M20T in Northern NM or Northeast AZ, there's a fairly high probability that it's mine.

As you say above though, an old PIREP has potential to be misleading. It's very hard to read through all the contractions to learn that the icing was six hours ago, say before a frontal passage.

I guess I would just encourage the original poster to try to make a report at or around the time of the observation, and if he can't do that, I think it's better to consider it an opportunity lost than to try to fit a square peg into a round hole with an untimely report.

Jon
 
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