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 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. ...
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.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.
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 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).
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.
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.