By Howard Deevers
“Everyone talks about weather, but no one does anything about it.” I remember hearing that statement even as a kid, but who can do anything about the weather? We really can't change the weather; we can only live with it.
I did not know that I would be required to know so much about weather to become a pilot. As pilots, weather is far more important to us than to the average person on the ground. Here in Arizona, we talk a lot about “density altitude” in the summer and avoiding the big thunderstorms that come with the monsoon season. Other than that, weather is pretty friendly in Arizona.
Pilots don't stay in one place. Cross country flying will require a close look at weather patterns on the route that we intend to fly. Is it IFR or VFR? Can we go or wait awhile? Only 2 states to the east is the “Great State of Texas.” If you are crossing Texas either eastbound or westbound the weather can be a challenge any time due to the distance you will travel. Most of us in a small GA aircraft only want to fly abut 3 hours at a time. Depending on the aircraft you are flying, 3 hours may not get you all the way across Texas. Also, Texas is part of that central part of the country that gets lots of mixing of weather patterns almost year-round.
The good news is we have wonderful sources for weather reporting and forecasting. For pilots, we have Flight Service which is my favorite. I know there are many on-line weather programs available today, and you can even get them on your smart phone. Many of my students are filing flight plans right from their phones.
More good news; we can get actual weather on our iPads with a Stratus ADSB device and it will display very current weather. Remember the days when if you had weather radar in your plane it was a big deal? Now we can get weather on an iPad for free. You need to own an iPad, of course.
You can also contact Flight Service while enroute on one of the many RCO frequencies you will find on your charts. Just tell them: who you are, where you are, and what you want to know. Air Traffic Control has a primary job of separating air traffic, but there are times that they will be very helpful with weather information. On a cross-country flight I crossed the Mississippi River at Quincy, Illinois, in IFR. No, I could not see the river, but you have to know where you are on any IFR flight. I heard Chicago Center talking to another aircraft about weather near Burlington, Iowa. I asked Center if I could leave frequency for a few minutes to pick up weather. The Controller asked, “What are you looking for?” I replied that I had heard him talking to another aircraft about Burlington, and that was on my route to Moline. He came back with a suggestion that I go direct to Galesburg, IL, then direct to Moline, and I would miss all of the heavy rain. I read that back to him and then flew those routes with no problems.
I am certainly not a certified weather person, but I have studied weather for aviation for almost 50 years. When I told my dad that I was taking flying lessons, his first response was “Watch out for weather.” I never forgot that. Sometimes, no matter how hard you work at it in planning and alternates, weather will keep you grounded for a day or longer. That is just part of the adventure. If you really need to get home and back to work, leave the plane and rent a car and drive. There is no shame in that. I have left a plane at an airport 600 miles from my home and driven back. After the storms passed, I drove back and got the plane and flew home. My saying is: if you haven't left a plane and rented a car to drive back once in a while, you are not flying enough!
Want to know more about weather? Come to a seminar sponsored by your ARIZONA PILOTS ASSOCIATION and the FAAST Team. They are free. Check the website for a location near you. And don't forget to bring your “Wingman.”