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Weather decisions

Really great stuff, weather has always been one of those things I feel I know just enough about to get me in trouble, think I'll pays my money and see what I can learn!
 
I watched your video. It's very informative. Actually making me wonder if I really want to finish my IFR rating at all. I know I don't have the time or the smarts to become a competent amateur meteorologist in order to interpret weather products I thought were produced for people like me to be able to make decisions. Seems from the video that even a detailed briefing is inadequate when "rain in the vicinity" is a cause for serious concern. I think I've got some serious thinking to do. ...

I Strongly encourage you to get that IFR rating, it will make you a better pilot and it give you more tools in your tool box, always a good thing.
 
I watched your video. It's very informative. Actually making me wonder if I really want to finish my IFR rating at all. I know I don't have the time or the smarts to become a competent amateur meteorologist in order to interpret weather products I thought were produced for people like me to be able to make decisions. Seems from the video that even a detailed briefing is inadequate when "rain in the vicinity" is a cause for serious concern. I think I've got some serious thinking to do. ...

I wouldn't give up on the IR. And you don't have to become a meteorologist either. But it does take some training. You can be great at playing a musical instrument, but never write your own music. I like to think that pilots need to be good at playing an instrument. You don't need to be a forecaster.

I've taught thousands of pilots aviation weather over the last 20 years. Many of my students can run circles around even the most seasoned pilots with respect to weather. It just takes some dedication...but the pay off is being able to feel confident when you fly. A little knowledge goes a long way.

I just did a one-on-one online session today with a pilot who has been training with me for many years. He is making a trip tomorrow and we spent an hour looking through the weather together. He knows this stuff quite well, but likes the recurrent training.
 
www.weatherspork.com is by far the best aviation weather info and training available. I regularly fly ifr and use this every trip. Go through all the training videos and learn to use a Skew-T chart. Everything will become a lot clearer.
Charlie
As a VFR pilot and long-trip-weather scaredy-cat, I used WeatherSpork this year for the Oshkosh trip and it was fantastic. My favorite feature is the way it will time-shift the weather forecast along your route based on your departure time and speed. You can literally slide your departure time and watch your enroute line move through the weather forecasts. This allowed me to find the optimum departure time for best conditions along the route. The app was spot on. If I had used the static apps and weather websites, I would have launched early and been sitting on the ground somewhere along the way waiting for the ceilings ahead to lift.
 
JWilber
Dont give up on the ifr ticket. Dont give up. Even if you never fly imc, it will make you a better pilot. Keep working, one day you will be very glad you did !!!
Charlie
 
As a VFR pilot and long-trip-weather scaredy-cat, I used WeatherSpork this year for the Oshkosh trip and it was fantastic. My favorite feature is the way it will time-shift the weather forecast along your route based on your departure time and speed. You can literally slide your departure time and watch your enroute line move through the weather forecasts. This allowed me to find the optimum departure time for best conditions along the route. The app was spot on. If I had used the static apps and weather websites, I would have launched early and been sitting on the ground somewhere along the way waiting for the ceilings ahead to lift.

Great feedback Mike. That's what we're hoping to accomplish. The patent pending Wheels Up Departure Advisor really makes it easy to find that time so you can stack the deck in your favor. We wanted to attack the VFR into IMC issue which still kills more pilots than any other weather-related cause. We hope this will help save at least a few lives making it convenient (fast) without a significant amount of interpretation to find that perfect time to depart.
 
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I Strongly encourage you to get that IFR rating, it will make you a better pilot and it give you more tools in your tool box, always a good thing.

Ditto on that. It's a whole lotta goodness in one rating.
 
Weather is like my Archery Elk hunting. I am really good at telling you where the Elk have been. Not so good at telling you where they are now, or where they will be later.
As mentioned earlier, use all the tools you have available.
I will look into Weatherspork. Sounds like the forecasting tools might be presented in a better format than most.
 
I need advice on how to make the go/no-go decision. I cancel a lot of cross country flights because some element of a forecast is less than ideal. I'm still VFR only (currently working on an IFR rating) and a low-timer. I like ceilings greater than 3000', no precipitation, and visibility with the ground (i.e., I fear getting stuck on top).

Your cancellations are occurring for a good reason - you are still gaining experience and you are a VFR only pilot who is understandably making safe decisions based on the limitations of your experience and your equipment. Understandably you are looking to explore the limits of your capability. However, even when you get your IFR ticket, you are still flying a light GA aircraft. Anything without a turbine powerplant and robust FIKI capability is pushing it in anything close to icing conditions or convective activity (enroute and terminal), if we are honest with the safety numbers and capability of light piston aircraft, performance capable or not, in weather.

https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/air-safety-institute/safety-spotlights/vfr-into-imc

As you keep earning hours and stripes, you'll realize you will see trends in your weather understanding and dynamic decision making capabilities coupled to your equipment (air, space and ground based). To safely expand your cross country dynamic flight planning weather analysis and decision making, the IFR certificate is a good place to start and also a lot of research and studying. Slow, metered progress is the key. Get home-itis (or let's take a look itis) consistently takes victims over time and repeated attempts. Don't be suckered by pushing too far too fast.
 
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WeatherSpork

Appreciate the encouragement to finish the IFR training. I think I will.

I decided to check out the WeatherSpork app. My first thought was reluctance to get into yet another subscription. You know: data for this, data for that, EAA, AOPA, etc. .... WeatherSpork has a 2 week trial and after playing with it for a week I'm in. I'm just amazed at how much data is available in one place and how easy it is to use and understand. This app is well worth the cost in my opinion. Very well done to the WeatherSpork developers.
 
I decided to check out the WeatherSpork app. My first thought was reluctance to get into yet another subscription. You know: data for this, data for that, EAA, AOPA, etc. .... WeatherSpork has a 2 week trial and after playing with it for a week I'm in. I'm just amazed at how much data is available in one place and how easy it is to use and understand. This app is well worth the cost in my opinion. Very well done to the WeatherSpork developers.

Thanks for the feedback Joe! We are just beginning here and we will be adding some amazing new features in the coming months and years. Stay tuned and enjoy!
 
The cemetery is full of VFR pilots who didn't wait one more day. I recently spent 2 nights in Plainview TX waiting for the weather to clear while flying my 9A from FL back home to UT.
 
Weather chicken here (with a rusty IFR ticket)! Lots of great advice in this thread.
Edit to add: Even though I haven't kept my IFR current, I retained a LOT of situational awareness from it. As soon as I've upgraded my panel, I plan to do an IPC.

Have a big picture idea of what's going on. Where is clearer weather? What other airport options do you have along your route? As long as you know your "outs", go take a look.

How much fuel are you carrying? VFR minimum is to get to your destination plus 30 minutes...that's a little too close for me. I like to plan like it's IFR - fuel to my destination, plus alternate (with better weather!), plus 0:45 (or more).

There are LOTS of little airports dotting this country. If conditions get sour, visit one of them. Who knows what sort of cool stuff you'll find there?


Time to spare, go by air...
 
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IFR flight

Just made a flight from Baton Rouge to Brunswick, GA and back via Dothan, AL to meet my nephew's new daughter. The flight over was in CAVU, but a weather front came in behind us.

We left a day early and over-nighted in Dothan while the worst of it passed over us. Next day we filed IFR and took off at noon. Baton Rouge was VFR. We climbed through a layer of cloud about 1000' deep and were "over-the top" at 6000' until BTR approach cleared us to 3000' at which point we were in the clear. We were in clouds about 10 to 15 minutes total. The total flight time was 2:45.

I love having the option to file IFR in conditions like this. It's safer than scud running, by far, if you're trained up and your plane is ready, but I want to be flying toward better conditions and have a high enough ceiling on departure to circle back and land if necessary. Going IFR, got us home on time and safely. John

2co2yxs.jpg
 
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And that is precisely why I recently obtained my IFR rating. Home for me out here in west Texas enjoys about 330 days of the year with decent VFR, but with family and friends spread out all over the US I got tired of cancelling trips because of an overcast that was just low enough to make flying VFR under it dangerous.

There are still weather conditions that preclude safe flight with IFR, but those are fewer and farther between.
 
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