WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.445 [CLICKING] 00:00:16.132 --> 00:00:17.590 PHILIP GREENSPUN: All right, folks. 00:00:17.590 --> 00:00:19.673 I know you're excited to learn about weather data. 00:00:22.223 --> 00:00:24.640 I've been told you're excited to learn about weather data. 00:00:27.628 --> 00:00:29.170 I'm going to do the first few slides. 00:00:29.170 --> 00:00:31.030 Tina's going to take over for the ones that 00:00:31.030 --> 00:00:32.830 require intelligence. 00:00:32.830 --> 00:00:34.900 And I'm going to come back at the end. 00:00:34.900 --> 00:00:36.700 OK. 00:00:36.700 --> 00:00:40.300 Remember that VFR, ordinarily, is 00:00:40.300 --> 00:00:45.130 a ceiling of 1,000 feet or more and visibility 00:00:45.130 --> 00:00:46.570 of three statute miles or more. 00:00:46.570 --> 00:00:49.180 That's one of the few things in aviation 00:00:49.180 --> 00:00:54.700 that's reported in statute miles is the visibility. 00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:56.860 As Tina mentioned earlier, a ceiling 00:00:56.860 --> 00:01:01.570 is a broken or overcast layer, or sometimes, 00:01:01.570 --> 00:01:05.638 if it's really nasty, you'll see a vertical visibility reported. 00:01:05.638 --> 00:01:07.180 So here are some of the abbreviations 00:01:07.180 --> 00:01:08.680 that you might see on the right in a 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:11.410 METAR. 00:01:11.410 --> 00:01:15.580 Remember these weather minimums, so VFR pilots, 00:01:15.580 --> 00:01:17.200 we're looking at the weather reports 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:19.533 to see if we're going to be able to maintain these cloud 00:01:19.533 --> 00:01:23.360 clearances and, generally, stay out of the clouds. 00:01:23.360 --> 00:01:29.290 So I wanted to tell you that it's not quite as hard as you 00:01:29.290 --> 00:01:31.870 might think because computer programs make 00:01:31.870 --> 00:01:35.908 a lot of what you're going to learn about simpler. 00:01:35.908 --> 00:01:38.450 On the other hand, we want to give you the good fundamentals, 00:01:38.450 --> 00:01:40.000 because what we're going to show you, 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:43.930 these are the basis of what these computer programs are 00:01:43.930 --> 00:01:44.950 presenting to you. 00:01:44.950 --> 00:01:47.350 They're oftentimes getting the same data 00:01:47.350 --> 00:01:51.130 and spinning it in some interesting graphical way. 00:01:51.130 --> 00:01:54.238 So we're going to show you all the fundamental text 00:01:54.238 --> 00:01:55.780 weather that people have been relying 00:01:55.780 --> 00:01:58.030 on since at least the '50s. 00:01:58.030 --> 00:02:00.160 There are weather graphics you can grab on the web 00:02:00.160 --> 00:02:01.523 or sometimes in flight. 00:02:01.523 --> 00:02:03.190 How do you get the weather on the ground 00:02:03.190 --> 00:02:05.200 and how do you get it in the air? 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:10.360 So most of what you're going to see 00:02:10.360 --> 00:02:13.690 in the rest of this presentation can actually 00:02:13.690 --> 00:02:17.200 be summarized by clever programmers. 00:02:17.200 --> 00:02:20.380 And I think the cleverest programmer of all 00:02:20.380 --> 00:02:25.330 is this guy David Boozer who taught the class last year. 00:02:25.330 --> 00:02:28.360 And fortunately, he's taking a jet type-- well, fortunately, 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:31.080 for him he's taking a jet type rating course right now. 00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:36.460 So he couldn't be with us, but here is WeatherSpork. 00:02:36.460 --> 00:02:40.000 If you want to ever have a good illustration of the value 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:42.970 of an MBA and studying marketing, 00:02:42.970 --> 00:02:47.920 just think about the name for this product of WeatherSpork. 00:02:47.920 --> 00:02:50.380 Let's say we want to go from Bedford to the Gaithersburg, 00:02:50.380 --> 00:02:52.140 Maryland airport. 00:02:52.140 --> 00:02:54.320 It's going to show us-- 00:02:54.320 --> 00:02:56.470 this was I think from Sunday evening. 00:02:56.470 --> 00:02:58.540 It's pretty nasty here at Bedford. 00:02:58.540 --> 00:03:03.600 I believe that's low IFR, that purple, and then here 00:03:03.600 --> 00:03:05.680 a marginal VFR, marginal VFR. 00:03:08.230 --> 00:03:11.320 Actually, sorry, maybe the blue is a VFR. 00:03:11.320 --> 00:03:13.570 That's the problem with color codes. 00:03:13.570 --> 00:03:17.740 Anyway, you get these symbols for VFR, marginal VFR, IFR, 00:03:17.740 --> 00:03:19.570 and low IFR. 00:03:19.570 --> 00:03:21.940 But here, here's the altitude. 00:03:21.940 --> 00:03:27.430 We're going from C level up to 11,000 feet or 12,000 feet 00:03:27.430 --> 00:03:28.480 at the top. 00:03:28.480 --> 00:03:30.760 It shows you inside this blue area 00:03:30.760 --> 00:03:32.050 where the freezing levels are. 00:03:32.050 --> 00:03:34.090 It's kind of a weird mixed up situation here 00:03:34.090 --> 00:03:37.570 with this freezing level here, another freezing level here. 00:03:37.570 --> 00:03:38.950 There's AIRMETs. 00:03:38.950 --> 00:03:40.360 It looks pretty scary. 00:03:40.360 --> 00:03:43.480 Once we get down closer to the DC area, it's not so bad. 00:03:43.480 --> 00:03:47.350 There's only one AIRMET and it looks 00:03:47.350 --> 00:03:50.080 like we could be in the clear of the clouds up here. 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:51.580 But this is a good way to summarize. 00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:54.400 It this already shows you that it's probably not 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:58.150 going to be wise to go on Sunday at, 00:03:58.150 --> 00:04:00.840 I guess, this was Sunday at 1:00 PM. 00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:02.430 OK. 00:04:02.430 --> 00:04:05.770 Here, notice on the bottom, the time keeps changing. 00:04:05.770 --> 00:04:08.710 So we're going from Sunday at 1:00 PM. 00:04:08.710 --> 00:04:13.990 The middle screen capture is to go Sunday at 10:00 PM. 00:04:13.990 --> 00:04:15.610 This is at eastern time. 00:04:15.610 --> 00:04:18.279 And the last one is to go Monday at 8:30. 00:04:18.279 --> 00:04:23.290 So you can see from this already that you could take off 00:04:23.290 --> 00:04:26.770 from Hanscom field, rise up to 1,500 feet 00:04:26.770 --> 00:04:30.850 or so on the right, and just cruise 00:04:30.850 --> 00:04:33.430 along never even getting inside a cloud 00:04:33.430 --> 00:04:35.050 until you landed at Gaithersburg. 00:04:35.050 --> 00:04:37.480 That's kind of a low altitude, so you might end up 00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:40.780 deciding, well, what I really want to do is find a hole 00:04:40.780 --> 00:04:44.230 and go up to about 7,000 or 8,000 feet and go on top of it 00:04:44.230 --> 00:04:46.330 all and come back down, but whatever. 00:04:46.330 --> 00:04:49.360 It looks like you could probably remain clear of clouds, 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:51.160 make it to your destination. 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:54.370 You're not going to pass through a lot of AIRMETs. 00:04:54.370 --> 00:04:57.130 Over here, let's look at this one in the middle 00:04:57.130 --> 00:05:01.590 because it's not quite as terrifying. 00:05:01.590 --> 00:05:04.710 There's a low turbulence low from the surface all the way up 00:05:04.710 --> 00:05:06.700 to 18,000 feet. 00:05:06.700 --> 00:05:09.780 If it says a turbulence AIRMET that goes up to 8,000, 00:05:09.780 --> 00:05:11.160 that's kind of normal. 00:05:11.160 --> 00:05:13.980 And oftentimes, if you climb to four or five or six, 00:05:13.980 --> 00:05:14.910 it'll smooth out. 00:05:14.910 --> 00:05:17.160 But if the turbulence is forecast to go all the way up 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:20.160 into the flight levels, you know that's a pretty ugly day. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:22.202 They're saying there's going to be low level wind 00:05:22.202 --> 00:05:23.940 shear from zero to 2000 feet. 00:05:23.940 --> 00:05:26.700 There's going to be IFR conditions. 00:05:26.700 --> 00:05:29.050 And it's going to be gusting 18 knots, so all of that 00:05:29.050 --> 00:05:33.450 is pretty bad unless you really have to go. 00:05:33.450 --> 00:05:35.520 Here look, icing from the freezing level 00:05:35.520 --> 00:05:43.740 up to flight level 230, just a collection of hazards. 00:05:43.740 --> 00:05:47.340 But also look at the difference between Sunday and Monday. 00:05:47.340 --> 00:05:49.860 If you just hang out in the ground and you're patient. 00:05:49.860 --> 00:05:51.570 You don't need a superior level of skill 00:05:51.570 --> 00:05:54.268 if you have a superior level of judgment. 00:05:54.268 --> 00:05:56.310 Here's some more presentations from WeatherSpork. 00:05:56.310 --> 00:05:58.830 Again, I kind of love this app. 00:05:58.830 --> 00:06:01.750 You have all the airports you're going to fly near. 00:06:01.750 --> 00:06:03.870 So you go from Bedford to Worcester, 00:06:03.870 --> 00:06:06.630 some places in Connecticut. 00:06:06.630 --> 00:06:11.230 I think that's Morristown in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 00:06:11.230 --> 00:06:16.830 Lancaster, anyway, on the way to Gaithersburg. 00:06:16.830 --> 00:06:19.590 And it shows you here's your time of departure. 00:06:19.590 --> 00:06:23.280 You're going to depart, but hey look, It would just get to be-- 00:06:23.280 --> 00:06:24.030 I guess that is. 00:06:24.030 --> 00:06:27.510 That does mean blue must be marginal VFR, and then 00:06:27.510 --> 00:06:29.010 green it's going to be windy, but it 00:06:29.010 --> 00:06:30.589 will be nice VFR weather. 00:06:30.589 --> 00:06:32.047 So if we just wait a little bit, we 00:06:32.047 --> 00:06:36.660 won't have to fly through any areas that are challenging. 00:06:36.660 --> 00:06:42.360 ForeFlight has a mode where you can ask for your weather 00:06:42.360 --> 00:06:44.080 briefing in a PDF format. 00:06:44.080 --> 00:06:46.125 And this is the first page of that PDF format. 00:06:46.125 --> 00:06:48.920 It shows some of the same ideas. 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:56.020 There are these graphics, these blue half moons, if you will, 00:06:56.020 --> 00:06:57.150 for icing. 00:06:57.150 --> 00:06:58.650 You can see there's a key down here. 00:06:58.650 --> 00:07:01.040 It says icing severity. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:03.637 So up here, you've got varying degrees of ice. 00:07:03.637 --> 00:07:05.220 You probably don't want to be up there 00:07:05.220 --> 00:07:06.930 in an aircraft like the Cirrus. 00:07:06.930 --> 00:07:10.360 It doesn't have de-icing capability. 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:12.880 So now I think it said all up to Tina 00:07:12.880 --> 00:07:19.795 to talk about the exciting world of actual weather data. 00:07:19.795 --> 00:07:20.920 TINA SRIVASTAVA: All right. 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:23.260 So we're going to talk about weather data 00:07:23.260 --> 00:07:27.130 in the form of reports as well as forecasts. 00:07:27.130 --> 00:07:29.950 So what is the difference between a report 00:07:29.950 --> 00:07:31.180 and a forecast? 00:07:31.180 --> 00:07:33.070 So a report is actually telling you 00:07:33.070 --> 00:07:36.430 what's actually happening, so it's a current weather 00:07:36.430 --> 00:07:39.340 condition at a particular location. 00:07:39.340 --> 00:07:42.340 A forecast is a forecast. 00:07:42.340 --> 00:07:45.040 It's a guess as to what is going to happen. 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:49.000 So it's really important to know the difference between these. 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:52.160 We now have Mark Nathanson up in the back 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:53.830 who's going to be talking to you at 4:00 00:07:53.830 --> 00:07:55.060 about some really cool stuff. 00:07:55.060 --> 00:07:57.820 And as we talked about, he's an FAA examiner. 00:07:57.820 --> 00:07:59.890 Probably doesn't remember this, but he asked me 00:07:59.890 --> 00:08:06.190 during my oral exam, for a given piece of weather data, 00:08:06.190 --> 00:08:08.570 is that a report or a forecast? 00:08:08.570 --> 00:08:11.830 And if it's a forecast, how much should I rely on that 00:08:11.830 --> 00:08:12.855 or depend on that? 00:08:12.855 --> 00:08:14.230 And so that's something to really 00:08:14.230 --> 00:08:16.180 keep in mind the difference between knowing 00:08:16.180 --> 00:08:18.760 what the actual situation is and what somebody guesses 00:08:18.760 --> 00:08:20.620 the situation is going to be. 00:08:20.620 --> 00:08:24.130 And of course, depending how far out that guess is, 00:08:24.130 --> 00:08:27.700 it may or may not actually turn out to be true. 00:08:27.700 --> 00:08:31.630 So a METAR is a report, and so it's 00:08:31.630 --> 00:08:33.460 timestamped so it will tell you the weather 00:08:33.460 --> 00:08:36.640 at a particular time and a particular location. 00:08:36.640 --> 00:08:38.500 And one thing that's important to think 00:08:38.500 --> 00:08:40.450 about when you think about direction 00:08:40.450 --> 00:08:42.830 is the way that the wind is reported. 00:08:42.830 --> 00:08:45.868 So if you hear it, so like if you're listening to the ADDS. 00:08:45.868 --> 00:08:47.410 We talked about the ADDS quite a bit, 00:08:47.410 --> 00:08:49.780 so you tune in the ADDS frequency and you listen to it. 00:08:49.780 --> 00:08:51.820 They're going to be telling you that wind 00:08:51.820 --> 00:08:53.590 direction in magnetic. 00:08:53.590 --> 00:08:56.680 If you read it on a printed document, 00:08:56.680 --> 00:08:59.800 it's pretty much always at true heading. 00:08:59.800 --> 00:09:03.280 And certainly, on the internet as we'll give you some sources, 00:09:03.280 --> 00:09:06.670 that's like the same as reading it. 00:09:06.670 --> 00:09:08.410 We already covered ceilings. 00:09:08.410 --> 00:09:09.460 I won't get into that. 00:09:09.460 --> 00:09:12.370 So let's just talk about the breakdown of a METAR report. 00:09:12.370 --> 00:09:16.990 So I discussed that generally, for example, at Bedford. 00:09:16.990 --> 00:09:20.230 You might hear the METAR updated every hour or so. 00:09:20.230 --> 00:09:21.940 And we talked about the identifier, 00:09:21.940 --> 00:09:24.640 that this is information whiskey, 00:09:24.640 --> 00:09:27.370 maybe an hour later it's the next 00:09:27.370 --> 00:09:29.320 as they keep going through the alphabet. 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:32.440 And one time that you might see it updated 00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:34.930 more frequently than once every hour or so 00:09:34.930 --> 00:09:37.643 is if they need to do a special report. 00:09:37.643 --> 00:09:40.060 And so that's the other type of acronym that you see there 00:09:40.060 --> 00:09:45.250 S-P-E-C-I, and that's if the weather is changing a lot. 00:09:45.250 --> 00:09:47.500 That's usually a bad thing. 00:09:47.500 --> 00:09:49.372 You don't like weather changing frequently. 00:09:49.372 --> 00:09:51.580 It's probably not something you want to be flying in, 00:09:51.580 --> 00:09:55.180 but maybe the conditions are deteriorating, 00:09:55.180 --> 00:09:58.000 the wind or the conditions or the ceiling 00:09:58.000 --> 00:09:59.620 has changed significantly, so they'll 00:09:59.620 --> 00:10:02.540 update that information. 00:10:02.540 --> 00:10:06.070 So there are a whole bunch of different abbreviations 00:10:06.070 --> 00:10:08.050 when you read these reports. 00:10:08.050 --> 00:10:10.580 I highlighted a couple in red. 00:10:10.580 --> 00:10:13.570 You could make your way through sort of guessing, OK, 00:10:13.570 --> 00:10:15.430 thunderstorms is TS. 00:10:15.430 --> 00:10:17.440 It seems kind of intuitive, but I 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:20.410 highlighted some that are really, really kind of get you. 00:10:20.410 --> 00:10:25.030 So hail is GR and mist is BR, as someone was pointing out 00:10:25.030 --> 00:10:25.630 on this side. 00:10:25.630 --> 00:10:29.750 Yeah, so mist, if you just look at it and you try to think, 00:10:29.750 --> 00:10:30.610 oh, is it broken? 00:10:30.610 --> 00:10:32.435 No, broken is BKR. 00:10:32.435 --> 00:10:34.185 So they just try to trick you with that's, 00:10:34.185 --> 00:10:37.185 so try to keep an eye on those, and it's 00:10:37.185 --> 00:10:38.890 good to refresh your memory on these. 00:10:41.710 --> 00:10:44.790 So this is an example of a METAR report. 00:10:44.790 --> 00:10:47.310 So it starts off with the location 00:10:47.310 --> 00:10:50.220 and then the first two numbers, the 16, 00:10:50.220 --> 00:10:53.440 are telling you that it's a 16th day of the month. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:57.030 And then it's followed by 1653, so that's the time 00:10:57.030 --> 00:10:58.950 and has a Z for time in Zulu. 00:10:58.950 --> 00:11:03.570 We already talked about how you subtract hours 00:11:03.570 --> 00:11:06.570 depending on Eastern standard time versus Daylight Time 00:11:06.570 --> 00:11:08.440 to get to the current time. 00:11:08.440 --> 00:11:11.430 And then instead of telling you a heading of the wind, 00:11:11.430 --> 00:11:13.530 in this case, it has variables. 00:11:13.530 --> 00:11:17.070 So sometimes, it will say winds variable at about four knots, 00:11:17.070 --> 00:11:18.840 in this case. 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:20.700 And then the next is the visibility, 00:11:20.700 --> 00:11:24.090 so 10 SM is standing for 10 statute miles. 00:11:24.090 --> 00:11:25.620 And then, in this case, the ceiling 00:11:25.620 --> 00:11:28.860 is overcast, overcast at 6,000. 00:11:28.860 --> 00:11:34.830 The next two numbers, you see the 14 slash 07? 00:11:34.830 --> 00:11:39.990 So that's talking about the temperature and the dew point. 00:11:39.990 --> 00:11:42.680 So who remembers what is dew point? 00:11:47.520 --> 00:11:48.196 Yes. 00:11:48.196 --> 00:11:49.821 AUDIENCE: The temperature where the air 00:11:49.821 --> 00:11:51.717 reaches saturation for water. 00:11:51.717 --> 00:11:53.550 TINA SRIVASTAVA: So we heard the temperature 00:11:53.550 --> 00:11:56.250 where the air reaches saturation for water. 00:11:56.250 --> 00:11:59.130 So what happens when the dew point and the temperature 00:11:59.130 --> 00:12:00.940 are very close to each other? 00:12:00.940 --> 00:12:04.470 So here, we have seven degrees Celsius for dew point, 00:12:04.470 --> 00:12:06.840 14 degrees Celsius for temperature. 00:12:06.840 --> 00:12:08.890 What if the dew point and the temperature 00:12:08.890 --> 00:12:11.850 were much closer, only a couple degrees apart? 00:12:11.850 --> 00:12:12.350 Yes. 00:12:12.350 --> 00:12:13.517 AUDIENCE: Clouds would form. 00:12:13.517 --> 00:12:15.750 TINA SRIVASTAVA: Yeah, it can be very humid. 00:12:15.750 --> 00:12:19.050 You could be inside of a cloud or heavy fog or precipitation. 00:12:19.050 --> 00:12:21.610 Exactly. 00:12:21.610 --> 00:12:25.390 So here's a good source of weather information. 00:12:25.390 --> 00:12:27.400 So you can go to AviationWeather.gov 00:12:27.400 --> 00:12:31.100 and they have a bunch of menu options up there. 00:12:31.100 --> 00:12:36.130 So if you click on METAR right here, this METAR button, 00:12:36.130 --> 00:12:37.870 it will take you to a place where 00:12:37.870 --> 00:12:40.300 you can request the METAR data. 00:12:40.300 --> 00:12:44.680 And it asks for an ID, so that's the airport identifier. 00:12:44.680 --> 00:12:46.780 So in this case, I wrote in KBED which 00:12:46.780 --> 00:12:48.940 is Bedford airport, Hanscom field that we 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:50.420 keep referring to. 00:12:50.420 --> 00:12:54.700 And then you can actually tell it to decode the data for you. 00:12:54.700 --> 00:12:56.800 So as much as you want to memorize 00:12:56.800 --> 00:13:00.340 all of these different codes and symbols, in general practice, 00:13:00.340 --> 00:13:03.100 you can hit decode it and it'll tell you that. 00:13:03.100 --> 00:13:06.100 You can look up at the time, so you can actually 00:13:06.100 --> 00:13:08.080 ask for weather data in the past. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:09.850 And you could include a TAF. 00:13:09.850 --> 00:13:10.990 What does TAF mean? 00:13:13.700 --> 00:13:14.526 Yes. 00:13:14.526 --> 00:13:15.520 AUDIENCE: Terminal area forecast. 00:13:15.520 --> 00:13:17.187 TINA SRIVASTAVA: Terminal area forecast. 00:13:17.187 --> 00:13:18.190 That's right. 00:13:18.190 --> 00:13:22.550 So if you do that and you hit Enter, it gives you this data. 00:13:22.550 --> 00:13:24.970 So first thing it does is it tells you 00:13:24.970 --> 00:13:28.570 the date at which it's producing the data for you. 00:13:28.570 --> 00:13:33.910 And then the first is the METAR and the second here is the TAF. 00:13:33.910 --> 00:13:36.535 And so the METAR here is telling you the location, 00:13:36.535 --> 00:13:38.380 so it starts with KBED. 00:13:38.380 --> 00:13:41.800 And then here is the information raw, 00:13:41.800 --> 00:13:46.150 so you see that data right here or you can have it decoded. 00:13:46.150 --> 00:13:48.370 So again, the first two numbers 23-- 00:13:48.370 --> 00:13:49.360 that's the date-- 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:55.060 20 23rd, and then it gives you the time in Zulu. 00:13:55.060 --> 00:13:56.800 And then they basically go forward 00:13:56.800 --> 00:13:58.120 with all that information. 00:13:58.120 --> 00:14:01.180 So it it's defined it here because it's decoded, so you 00:14:01.180 --> 00:14:03.200 see the temperature, dew point. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:05.530 So I actually just updated this this morning 00:14:05.530 --> 00:14:10.000 so you could see the weather and what it's looking like. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:13.290 Now I'll go over to the Document Viewer for a moment. 00:14:29.090 --> 00:14:31.540 PHILIP GREENSPUN: Oh, probably don't want the light. 00:14:31.540 --> 00:14:33.170 Or maybe we probably need this. 00:14:38.040 --> 00:14:39.510 OK. 00:14:39.510 --> 00:14:43.290 Qualified personnel are here. 00:14:43.290 --> 00:14:44.180 I'll entertain you. 00:14:44.180 --> 00:14:46.110 That first METAR was from PDK. 00:14:46.110 --> 00:14:48.760 Anybody know where that is? 00:14:48.760 --> 00:14:51.390 KPDK. 00:14:51.390 --> 00:14:54.034 Southerners? 00:14:54.034 --> 00:14:54.760 AUDIENCE: DeKalb. 00:14:54.760 --> 00:14:56.010 PHILIP GREENSPUN: DeKalb, yes. 00:14:56.010 --> 00:14:57.480 Peachtree DeKalb in Atlanta. 00:14:57.480 --> 00:15:02.460 It's the Teterboro or Hanscom Field of Atlanta. 00:15:02.460 --> 00:15:06.150 I landed there once in a Diamond Star. 00:15:06.150 --> 00:15:09.480 I had to have the wings taken off in Florida 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:11.250 to fix a fuel gauge. 00:15:11.250 --> 00:15:14.250 I took off from there and I filed a VFR flight 00:15:14.250 --> 00:15:17.100 plan, landed in DeKalb, and I forgot 00:15:17.100 --> 00:15:19.410 to close my VFR flight plan. 00:15:19.410 --> 00:15:23.430 So the FAA and flight service folks at the time, 00:15:23.430 --> 00:15:25.530 they start searching for me and calling everybody. 00:15:25.530 --> 00:15:28.710 And they called the tower at DeKalb and they said, hey, 00:15:28.710 --> 00:15:30.123 did you see 505 whiskey tango? 00:15:30.123 --> 00:15:32.040 And they said, no, we hadn't seen an airplane. 00:15:32.040 --> 00:15:34.890 And I really freaked out. 00:15:34.890 --> 00:15:37.630 And I was right there on the ramp. 00:15:37.630 --> 00:15:40.740 So I kept silencing my phone because I 00:15:40.740 --> 00:15:43.910 was at a barbecue place with my friend 00:15:43.910 --> 00:15:45.510 and didn't want to be disturbed. 00:15:45.510 --> 00:15:48.210 Anyway, so they called the mechanic who took the wings off 00:15:48.210 --> 00:15:51.780 and they told him like the aircraft was missing. 00:15:51.780 --> 00:15:54.640 He had some choice words for me. 00:15:54.640 --> 00:15:58.050 So now, whenever I activate a VFR flight plan usually, 00:15:58.050 --> 00:16:00.090 if I do a flight plan at all, its IFR. 00:16:00.090 --> 00:16:02.290 They close that for you automatically. 00:16:02.290 --> 00:16:05.095 I move my watch from my left wrist to my right 00:16:05.095 --> 00:16:06.720 as a reminder to close the flight plan. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:07.387 All right, Tina. 00:16:07.387 --> 00:16:09.780 Take it away. 00:16:09.780 --> 00:16:12.120 TINA SRIVASTAVA: So this is the ForeFlight app. 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:14.550 I've passed the iPad around a couple times, 00:16:14.550 --> 00:16:16.840 so I think you guys have gotten to play with it. 00:16:16.840 --> 00:16:19.710 This is just a setting where the blue dot is showing where 00:16:19.710 --> 00:16:21.780 we currently are, and I've actually 00:16:21.780 --> 00:16:28.030 overlaid one of those instrument flight plans on top going here. 00:16:28.030 --> 00:16:31.920 So this is it an instrumented approach to Bedford. 00:16:31.920 --> 00:16:34.830 But if I wanted to get this weather data here, 00:16:34.830 --> 00:16:38.040 I can go to Airports and pull up the airport 00:16:38.040 --> 00:16:39.400 that I'm looking for. 00:16:39.400 --> 00:16:44.850 And then click on this Weather and it shows me the METAR. 00:16:44.850 --> 00:16:49.140 So it has both the raw data there and then it depicts it. 00:16:49.140 --> 00:16:52.530 And again, blue is showing marginal VFR, 00:16:52.530 --> 00:16:53.760 and so it explains that. 00:16:53.760 --> 00:16:57.990 What's also nice is it tells you the weather at nearby airports, 00:16:57.990 --> 00:16:59.500 as well. 00:16:59.500 --> 00:17:01.890 And then you can also go to your TAF, 00:17:01.890 --> 00:17:03.960 your terminal area forecast, and you 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:06.880 can look at how that is changing over time. 00:17:10.935 --> 00:17:13.560 PHILIP GREENSPUN: Oh, Tina, you don't mind, click on MOS, also. 00:17:13.560 --> 00:17:15.190 Yeah, if you're planning travel, MOS 00:17:15.190 --> 00:17:17.881 is good because it gives you weather a few days in advance 00:17:17.881 --> 00:17:19.839 so you can decide whether or not it makes sense 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:22.510 to depart here on Friday and hope 00:17:22.510 --> 00:17:24.930 to come back VFR on Sunday. 00:17:24.930 --> 00:17:27.369 TINA SRIVASTAVA: MOS is talking about the models, so 00:17:27.369 --> 00:17:30.832 the weather models and what the outputs are. 00:17:30.832 --> 00:17:33.040 PHILIP GREENSPUN: I think it stands for Model Outputs 00:17:33.040 --> 00:17:36.010 Statistics, not very helpful, but anyway, it's a longer-- 00:17:36.010 --> 00:17:38.230 ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot and some other sources, 00:17:38.230 --> 00:17:39.940 like WeatherSpork, will turn that 00:17:39.940 --> 00:17:43.060 into a sort of a virtual TAF for you 00:17:43.060 --> 00:17:47.250 that lasts three days instead of just 24 hours. 00:17:47.250 --> 00:17:49.377 30 for the big airports. 00:17:49.377 --> 00:17:51.460 TINA SRIVASTAVA: So another type of weather report 00:17:51.460 --> 00:17:54.100 is a PIREP or a pilot report. 00:17:54.100 --> 00:17:57.610 And so this is where a pilot could be flying 00:17:57.610 --> 00:18:00.340 and wants to report the condition, so for example, 00:18:00.340 --> 00:18:02.170 turbulence or icing. 00:18:02.170 --> 00:18:04.690 Those are types of things that are frequently 00:18:04.690 --> 00:18:06.610 reported by pilots. 00:18:06.610 --> 00:18:09.160 And you can actually report one, as well. 00:18:09.160 --> 00:18:12.850 So one time when you're getting your flight instruction, 00:18:12.850 --> 00:18:17.290 if you do notice a wind shear, turbulence, icing, 00:18:17.290 --> 00:18:21.430 try to see if you can actually provide your own PIREP. 00:18:21.430 --> 00:18:23.620 And it'll ask you certain information 00:18:23.620 --> 00:18:26.680 such as your location, the time, the altitude at which you 00:18:26.680 --> 00:18:29.290 experienced it, what type of aircraft. 00:18:29.290 --> 00:18:32.590 I think that's really relevant because, for example, 00:18:32.590 --> 00:18:37.150 wind shear experienced by a small Cessna is one thing. 00:18:37.150 --> 00:18:41.350 If a large aircraft, like a big jet, a JetBlue aircraft, 00:18:41.350 --> 00:18:43.180 is telling you that they have wind shear, 00:18:43.180 --> 00:18:44.530 I'd really pay attention. 00:18:44.530 --> 00:18:46.390 If they seem to have trouble with it, 00:18:46.390 --> 00:18:48.848 that means you're definitely going to have trouble with it. 00:18:51.430 --> 00:18:54.070 And then you could also have printed weather forecasts 00:18:54.070 --> 00:18:56.110 that tell you-- so we just talked about the TAF 00:18:56.110 --> 00:18:57.760 as an example. 00:18:57.760 --> 00:19:02.920 And as Philip was just saying, it only goes out 24 hours. 00:19:02.920 --> 00:19:07.005 So same type of information as a METAR 00:19:07.005 --> 00:19:09.990 and similar abbreviations. 00:19:09.990 --> 00:19:14.260 And then we were just talking about that those models, 00:19:14.260 --> 00:19:19.440 and so you can forecast even farther out if need be. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:22.440 You can also get a forecast for a general area. 00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:24.740 So this is what we were discussing earlier 00:19:24.740 --> 00:19:26.210 when we were talking about radios 00:19:26.210 --> 00:19:30.975 and you might want to call in and ask for a weather forecast 00:19:30.975 --> 00:19:33.500 or weather brief for a given flight plan. 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:36.263 We talked about how you'd call in, give your tail number, 00:19:36.263 --> 00:19:38.180 where you were starting, where you were going, 00:19:38.180 --> 00:19:42.020 about how much time is out you'd be en route or in flight. 00:19:42.020 --> 00:19:43.790 And then, they might tell you the weather 00:19:43.790 --> 00:19:48.570 for the general area as well as the local current readings 00:19:48.570 --> 00:19:50.378 as well as the forecasts. 00:19:50.378 --> 00:19:52.670 PHILIP GREENSPUN: And notice that these area forecasts, 00:19:52.670 --> 00:19:54.950 if you go to the page on AviationWeather.gov, 00:19:54.950 --> 00:19:57.680 they're now only available for two or three regions, 00:19:57.680 --> 00:19:59.190 like the Gulf of Mexico. 00:19:59.190 --> 00:20:02.780 They used to have them for all over the continental US 00:20:02.780 --> 00:20:05.580 and they included cloud tops, which was very useful. 00:20:05.580 --> 00:20:07.640 The forecast top of the cloud because if it 00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:10.590 was, say, 4,000 feet, you would know that 00:20:10.590 --> 00:20:12.410 as long as you get on top of those IFR, 00:20:12.410 --> 00:20:15.020 you're not going to pick up any ice because you'll 00:20:15.020 --> 00:20:16.010 be above the clouds. 00:20:16.010 --> 00:20:20.900 And now you have to try to tease that out of the MOS data 00:20:20.900 --> 00:20:22.970 sources or use something like WeatherSpork 00:20:22.970 --> 00:20:26.520 that tries to depict graphically where the clouds are. 00:20:26.520 --> 00:20:28.372 I think ForeFlight's Profile View will also 00:20:28.372 --> 00:20:29.330 try to do some of that. 00:20:33.192 --> 00:20:35.650 TINA SRIVASTAVA: You can also get forecasts of winds aloft. 00:20:35.650 --> 00:20:37.480 We talked about that a couple times. 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:40.660 And so this will tell you kind of what the winds are going 00:20:40.660 --> 00:20:43.660 to be at a particular altitude, for example, 00:20:43.660 --> 00:20:47.470 at 3,000 feet or 6,000 feet, and so it 00:20:47.470 --> 00:20:49.990 helps you estimate especially in a cross-country flight 00:20:49.990 --> 00:20:51.880 or a longer flight how long it might 00:20:51.880 --> 00:20:53.890 take for you to get there. 00:20:53.890 --> 00:20:56.740 On apps, such as ForeFlight, if you-- 00:20:56.740 --> 00:20:59.980 in fact, we'll just do that right now so you can see. 00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:17.330 So you can actually enter in a flight plan 00:21:17.330 --> 00:21:21.710 very quickly, so you can have a starting place. 00:21:21.710 --> 00:21:34.713 And then-- so where do you guys want to fly to? 00:21:34.713 --> 00:21:36.597 AUDIENCE: Boston Logan. 00:21:36.597 --> 00:21:38.930 TINA SRIVASTAVA: That's a pretty short flight, but sure. 00:21:46.423 --> 00:21:48.590 PHILIP GREENSPUN: You guys, if you have the patience 00:21:48.590 --> 00:21:51.500 to stay with us tomorrow afternoon starting at 3:00, 00:21:51.500 --> 00:21:53.930 the founder of ForeFlight's going to be here, 00:21:53.930 --> 00:21:57.008 and I'm sure you'll get a pretty thorough demo. 00:21:57.008 --> 00:21:59.300 He and a colleague are going to talk for a couple hours 00:21:59.300 --> 00:22:02.360 about first the app, and also the startup, 00:22:02.360 --> 00:22:05.128 and then some of the engineering behind it. 00:22:05.128 --> 00:22:06.920 TINA SRIVASTAVA: So the blue dot is showing 00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:08.960 where we are here at MIT. 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:10.430 But of course, generally, you'd be 00:22:10.430 --> 00:22:12.350 doing this when you're at Bedford 00:22:12.350 --> 00:22:15.770 and you're flying to Logan. 00:22:15.770 --> 00:22:18.650 And then here, it's telling you it 00:22:18.650 --> 00:22:21.380 wants to know about the aircraft that I'll 00:22:21.380 --> 00:22:25.910 be flying in order to calculate some of the information. 00:22:25.910 --> 00:22:28.910 But when you do these types of things with the flight, 00:22:28.910 --> 00:22:33.380 it can estimate kind of how long you'll be in flight. 00:22:33.380 --> 00:22:38.000 And you can provide what is the altitude at which you 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:39.180 want to fly. 00:22:39.180 --> 00:22:41.960 And then it will be able to-- 00:22:41.960 --> 00:22:44.260 so it says coloring based on winds aloft. 00:22:44.260 --> 00:22:46.580 It looks like it's not detecting that maybe because I 00:22:46.580 --> 00:22:49.070 haven't given it all of its data right now. 00:22:49.070 --> 00:22:54.170 So in terms of what that means is just that the winds aloft 00:22:54.170 --> 00:22:56.180 are a good way of helping you predict 00:22:56.180 --> 00:22:58.580 how long it's going to take you to get to certain places. 00:22:58.580 --> 00:23:00.980 And it'll be part of that cross-country planning 00:23:00.980 --> 00:23:01.945 that you'll have to do. 00:23:01.945 --> 00:23:03.320 PHILIP GREENSPUN: The winds aloft 00:23:03.320 --> 00:23:07.430 forecast also shows you the temperature, which is critical 00:23:07.430 --> 00:23:09.920 because that's going to tell you whether icing is-- 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:13.657 icing is not possible if it's above freezing, generally. 00:23:15.475 --> 00:23:17.100 TINA SRIVASTAVA: There are also a bunch 00:23:17.100 --> 00:23:18.643 of severe weather reports. 00:23:18.643 --> 00:23:20.310 Philip has already talked about a number 00:23:20.310 --> 00:23:25.660 of them, AIRMETs and SIGMETs, as he was talking about. 00:23:25.660 --> 00:23:29.610 And then they have different abbreviations, even more 00:23:29.610 --> 00:23:31.500 abbreviations, related to this. 00:23:31.500 --> 00:23:34.740 So what they mean for icing and turbulence. 00:23:34.740 --> 00:23:38.400 So here we'll look at some examples of an AIRMET. 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:41.580 And in the picture, it shows a broad area 00:23:41.580 --> 00:23:43.570 where that AIRMET is valid. 00:23:43.570 --> 00:23:47.520 And so this is talking about icing and freezing level. 00:23:47.520 --> 00:23:51.630 So SIGMETs also talk about hazardous weather 00:23:51.630 --> 00:23:56.160 such as icing, turbulence, volcanic ash, which 00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:58.830 I don't think you'll encounter very often, 00:23:58.830 --> 00:24:02.220 but it was an issue in Europe, for example. 00:24:02.220 --> 00:24:04.680 And then here's a breakdown of decoding 00:24:04.680 --> 00:24:07.410 a SIGMET, as an example, to show you 00:24:07.410 --> 00:24:11.460 the type of information, what it stands for, 00:24:11.460 --> 00:24:14.400 and you can read through these to understand 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:15.935 the adverse weather. 00:24:15.935 --> 00:24:17.310 And certainly, if you're planning 00:24:17.310 --> 00:24:19.800 your own cross-country flight, I recommend 00:24:19.800 --> 00:24:23.160 you also use your normal weather data sources, as well. 00:24:23.160 --> 00:24:26.160 So just turn on the Weather Channel or Weather.com or Accu 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:29.380 Weather, whatever you use on a regular basis. 00:24:29.380 --> 00:24:31.590 If it's a crummy day, it's probably not a good day 00:24:31.590 --> 00:24:33.480 to go flying anyway and you may not 00:24:33.480 --> 00:24:37.630 want to dive so deep into all of these different tools. 00:24:37.630 --> 00:24:40.770 But if it seems like a nice day, then I 00:24:40.770 --> 00:24:43.080 would really recommend diving more specifically 00:24:43.080 --> 00:24:45.143 into understanding if there's a front coming in 00:24:45.143 --> 00:24:46.185 or other types of issues. 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:52.280 And then, convective SIGMETs are really, really concerning. 00:24:52.280 --> 00:24:54.710 So there are things that are much more severe, so you're 00:24:54.710 --> 00:24:56.900 talking about thunderstorms, hail, 00:24:56.900 --> 00:24:58.340 some things you really don't want 00:24:58.340 --> 00:24:59.680 to be flying during at all. 00:25:02.710 --> 00:25:05.250 There's a lot of different ways that the weather is also 00:25:05.250 --> 00:25:08.710 produced not in a text form but in a graphical format. 00:25:08.710 --> 00:25:12.600 So this is a relatively complicated weather depiction 00:25:12.600 --> 00:25:13.140 chart. 00:25:13.140 --> 00:25:15.398 So we'll break it down in detail. 00:25:15.398 --> 00:25:17.440 But let me just tell you some of the main things. 00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:18.350 Do you have the-- 00:25:18.350 --> 00:25:20.950 oh, I left it over there. 00:25:20.950 --> 00:25:23.510 Thanks, Phillip. 00:25:23.510 --> 00:25:27.140 So can anyone guess what all the little circles are? 00:25:27.140 --> 00:25:28.910 We see some circles that are white 00:25:28.910 --> 00:25:30.260 and some circles that are black. 00:25:30.260 --> 00:25:31.593 Does anyone know what those are? 00:25:38.170 --> 00:25:39.715 Any guesses? 00:25:39.715 --> 00:25:40.840 AUDIENCE: Weather stations? 00:25:40.840 --> 00:25:42.610 TINA SRIVASTAVA: Weather stations? 00:25:42.610 --> 00:25:43.450 Good guess. 00:25:43.450 --> 00:25:45.220 So it's actually trying to tell you 00:25:45.220 --> 00:25:47.770 what the cloud cover is like. 00:25:47.770 --> 00:25:55.590 So you can see certain places where the circle is empty. 00:25:55.590 --> 00:26:00.580 It's a clear day when it's fully filled in, 00:26:00.580 --> 00:26:02.020 that it's showing the cloud cover. 00:26:02.020 --> 00:26:04.490 And then you see some that are like little pie chart, 00:26:04.490 --> 00:26:06.400 so that they're partially filled in. 00:26:10.060 --> 00:26:13.710 So the purpose of looking at a weather chart like that 00:26:13.710 --> 00:26:15.963 is just to get the general conditions. 00:26:15.963 --> 00:26:17.380 There's a lot of different things. 00:26:17.380 --> 00:26:20.280 So here, it's more specific so it breaks down 00:26:20.280 --> 00:26:22.750 that the circles indicate the percent cloud cover. 00:26:22.750 --> 00:26:25.080 So if it's a quarter filled, it saying few clouds. 00:26:25.080 --> 00:26:28.670 If it's 3/4 filled, it's broken. 00:26:28.670 --> 00:26:30.720 And then it also has shaded areas 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:36.910 that depict when you have the IFR conditions. 00:26:36.910 --> 00:26:38.800 So zooming in, you can just kind of 00:26:38.800 --> 00:26:41.380 see those circles a little bit bigger, 00:26:41.380 --> 00:26:44.235 and the charts provide a lot of information, as well. 00:26:44.235 --> 00:26:45.610 But you can see a little bit more 00:26:45.610 --> 00:26:48.820 clearly also here some of the circles that 00:26:48.820 --> 00:26:50.770 are like pie charts that's showing 00:26:50.770 --> 00:26:54.100 how much they're filled in and what the cloud cover is looking 00:26:54.100 --> 00:26:55.030 like. 00:26:55.030 --> 00:26:58.150 And again, you can actually get the same type of thing 00:26:58.150 --> 00:26:59.800 on your ForeFlight. 00:26:59.800 --> 00:27:01.300 It's basically an option. 00:27:01.300 --> 00:27:02.890 For every airport that it depicts, 00:27:02.890 --> 00:27:06.720 it can show this cloud cover, as well. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:10.030 And you can also look at a radar summary chart. 00:27:10.030 --> 00:27:11.970 There are a bunch of prog charts, 00:27:11.970 --> 00:27:15.943 so they talk about when you're looking at a front. 00:27:15.943 --> 00:27:17.610 You guys have seen a lot of these things 00:27:17.610 --> 00:27:21.120 on the Weather Channel, probably didn't pay attention to them 00:27:21.120 --> 00:27:23.160 very much, but it's good to understand 00:27:23.160 --> 00:27:24.810 what the different types of fronts are, 00:27:24.810 --> 00:27:28.560 what's happening across the country, more than just 00:27:28.560 --> 00:27:29.670 your particular region. 00:27:29.670 --> 00:27:31.420 So if you're planning you know if it's a-- 00:27:31.420 --> 00:27:34.860 I think today's a Wednesday, so if you're planning on a flight 00:27:34.860 --> 00:27:36.450 this upcoming weekend and you want 00:27:36.450 --> 00:27:38.033 to think about what's going to happen, 00:27:38.033 --> 00:27:39.742 basically, you're trying to see are there 00:27:39.742 --> 00:27:40.890 some fronts coming in? 00:27:40.890 --> 00:27:41.640 What's happening? 00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:45.090 Or is it likely to going to be a clear day? 00:27:45.090 --> 00:27:47.490 And then, of course, as we've talked about, all of these 00:27:47.490 --> 00:27:50.340 have good legends just like we talked 00:27:50.340 --> 00:27:53.670 about the sectional chart quite a bit 00:27:53.670 --> 00:27:55.200 and the details of the legend. 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:57.300 It's always good to take a look at how 00:27:57.300 --> 00:27:59.970 they have indicated these different lines, where 00:27:59.970 --> 00:28:00.960 the fronts are. 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:03.270 And you really want to know which ones, again, 00:28:03.270 --> 00:28:05.520 are reporting the actual conditions versus which 00:28:05.520 --> 00:28:09.210 is a guesstimate of what's going to happen in six hours, 12 00:28:09.210 --> 00:28:10.410 hours from now. 00:28:10.410 --> 00:28:13.080 Again, if it's a forecast, it could be wrong. 00:28:15.583 --> 00:28:17.500 And then this is just a little bit more detail 00:28:17.500 --> 00:28:19.880 of types of things you can see on a chart. 00:28:19.880 --> 00:28:21.890 I think the most important thing to look at 00:28:21.890 --> 00:28:25.460 is this weird little R symbol with kind 00:28:25.460 --> 00:28:26.980 of an arrow at the bottom. 00:28:26.980 --> 00:28:29.720 It's indicating thunder. 00:28:29.720 --> 00:28:32.120 So that's a big one to look out for. 00:28:32.120 --> 00:28:34.430 If you see that, it's probably not something 00:28:34.430 --> 00:28:35.810 you're interested in flying in. 00:28:35.810 --> 00:28:36.790 I'm not, for sure. 00:28:40.148 --> 00:28:41.940 And then, there are a couple of shards here 00:28:41.940 --> 00:28:44.550 that are not specifically on the-- 00:28:44.550 --> 00:28:47.010 usually going to be asked about, but it's good to see. 00:28:47.010 --> 00:28:49.510 So you might have seen these kind of surface analysis 00:28:49.510 --> 00:28:50.010 charts. 00:28:50.010 --> 00:28:52.890 And they talk about high pressure areas and low pressure 00:28:52.890 --> 00:28:53.760 areas. 00:28:53.760 --> 00:28:55.737 And so that high and low pressure, 00:28:55.737 --> 00:28:56.820 what are we talking about? 00:28:56.820 --> 00:29:00.060 So that's the same thing is that pressure that you're dialing 00:29:00.060 --> 00:29:01.720 into your altimeter, right? 00:29:01.720 --> 00:29:05.910 So we talked about 29.92, but there 00:29:05.910 --> 00:29:08.400 might be a day where it's really dropped very low 00:29:08.400 --> 00:29:11.640 and it's 28 or something very, very low. 00:29:11.640 --> 00:29:13.590 That means you're in a low pressure area. 00:29:13.590 --> 00:29:17.470 And if it's very high, you're at 30 point something, 00:29:17.470 --> 00:29:19.470 it's a higher pressure area. 00:29:19.470 --> 00:29:21.660 And if you see that as you're flying around 00:29:21.660 --> 00:29:25.500 that pressure setting is getting updated very rapidly 00:29:25.500 --> 00:29:27.450 and changing rapidly, that usually 00:29:27.450 --> 00:29:30.550 is related to a change in your overall weather system. 00:29:30.550 --> 00:29:32.790 So you really want to be aware if that number is 00:29:32.790 --> 00:29:36.150 changing quite a bit, that's a big problem. 00:29:36.150 --> 00:29:38.640 You can also take a look at when you get into your airplane 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:40.290 and you're first setting that dial 00:29:40.290 --> 00:29:41.790 when you're sitting on the ground, 00:29:41.790 --> 00:29:44.743 see how much it's changing. 00:29:44.743 --> 00:29:47.160 You might want to-- in general, when you get into a plane, 00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:50.448 I like to think about when the plane was last flown. 00:29:50.448 --> 00:29:52.740 There are parts where you are checking the oil that you 00:29:52.740 --> 00:29:54.870 can kind of generally feel the engine 00:29:54.870 --> 00:29:57.450 and see if it's warm or not, if it needs to be primed or not, 00:29:57.450 --> 00:29:58.710 those types of things. 00:29:58.710 --> 00:30:01.020 If you see that the plane has just been flown 00:30:01.020 --> 00:30:04.110 and you're really dramatically having to change that pressure 00:30:04.110 --> 00:30:06.180 setting, that means the weather has recently 00:30:06.180 --> 00:30:07.278 changed quite a bit. 00:30:07.278 --> 00:30:08.820 It makes you want to really make sure 00:30:08.820 --> 00:30:11.790 that your projections and your knowledge about the weather 00:30:11.790 --> 00:30:12.540 is still accurate. 00:30:12.540 --> 00:30:15.123 PHILIP GREENSPUN: Tina, you want to mention these numbers here 00:30:15.123 --> 00:30:16.910 are the metric equivalent. 00:30:16.910 --> 00:30:25.095 So instead of 2 99 and 2, you'll see 1,000 millibars or so. 00:30:25.095 --> 00:30:26.970 TINA SRIVASTAVA: So we have a bunch of these. 00:30:26.970 --> 00:30:29.230 And all of these are also on that first website, 00:30:29.230 --> 00:30:31.075 the AviationWeather.gov. 00:30:31.075 --> 00:30:34.570 You can look at actually seeing the clouds 00:30:34.570 --> 00:30:37.130 from a satellite picture and kind of just seeing 00:30:37.130 --> 00:30:38.530 what's going on. 00:30:38.530 --> 00:30:40.540 These are hopefully not the first time 00:30:40.540 --> 00:30:44.140 you've seen these types of charts before. 00:30:44.140 --> 00:30:48.940 And then this is a way that they like to depict the winds aloft. 00:30:48.940 --> 00:30:51.090 So these little lines, and then depending 00:30:51.090 --> 00:30:54.870 on how many lines are coming off the side, 00:30:54.870 --> 00:31:00.190 it indicates how strong that wind is and what the amount is. 00:31:00.190 --> 00:31:01.740 So you can see here some that have 00:31:01.740 --> 00:31:03.450 a lot of little dashes coming off 00:31:03.450 --> 00:31:05.940 of it, whereas some that don't have any. 00:31:05.940 --> 00:31:09.720 It's a way to very quickly see where the wind is very strong 00:31:09.720 --> 00:31:12.240 and where it's not. 00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:14.450 And this is what I had talked about last time when 00:31:14.450 --> 00:31:18.710 we're in the radio section, the radio ATC and communications 00:31:18.710 --> 00:31:19.520 section. 00:31:19.520 --> 00:31:22.790 But just as a reminder, this is the number that you can call 00:31:22.790 --> 00:31:25.287 and you can get your full weather briefing done there. 00:31:25.287 --> 00:31:27.620 PHILIP GREENSPUN: Tina, do you want me to take over now? 00:31:27.620 --> 00:31:29.273 TINA SRIVASTAVA: Sure. 00:31:29.273 --> 00:31:30.440 PHILIP GREENSPUN: All right. 00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:32.840 So thank you. 00:31:32.840 --> 00:31:36.260 Tina covered the stuff that requires a brain. 00:31:36.260 --> 00:31:41.090 Now, I'm going to just tell you about how do you get this stuff 00:31:41.090 --> 00:31:42.817 as a practical matter. 00:31:42.817 --> 00:31:44.900 You can call this phone number it's very good when 00:31:44.900 --> 00:31:47.900 you're a novice pilot. 00:31:47.900 --> 00:31:50.330 Again, think about crew resource management. 00:31:50.330 --> 00:31:54.290 The weather briefers are another person that you can pull in. 00:31:54.290 --> 00:31:56.225 They may say VFR flight not recommended. 00:31:56.225 --> 00:31:57.350 That's there at the bottom. 00:31:57.350 --> 00:31:58.725 That's worth paying attention to. 00:32:01.620 --> 00:32:03.540 They used to work for the FAA. 00:32:03.540 --> 00:32:05.750 They were outsourced in 2005, and now they're 00:32:05.750 --> 00:32:08.300 contractors from a company called Leidos, 00:32:08.300 --> 00:32:10.615 so you might hear the name Leidos. 00:32:10.615 --> 00:32:12.740 You can get a full weather briefing over the phone. 00:32:12.740 --> 00:32:17.270 I actually do this sometimes if I'm in an Uber on my way 00:32:17.270 --> 00:32:18.470 to the Gaithersburg airport. 00:32:18.470 --> 00:32:20.840 I'll just call the weather briefer 00:32:20.840 --> 00:32:23.520 and that makes life very easy. 00:32:23.520 --> 00:32:24.020 OK. 00:32:24.020 --> 00:32:27.720 So AviationWeather.gov, as we mentioned earlier, 00:32:27.720 --> 00:32:31.160 has all the chart that we saw. 00:32:31.160 --> 00:32:32.630 The weather briefers themselves run 00:32:32.630 --> 00:32:36.050 their own website, which is a little bit of a twist on that. 00:32:36.050 --> 00:32:38.060 I kind of like this site, actually, 00:32:38.060 --> 00:32:40.008 because you get to set up a home page where 00:32:40.008 --> 00:32:41.300 you pick your favorite airport. 00:32:41.300 --> 00:32:44.000 So I picked Bedford, Teterboro which 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:48.230 is where you go in the New York Metro area 00:32:48.230 --> 00:32:53.150 if you enjoy paying $8 or $9 a gallon for gasoline. 00:32:53.150 --> 00:32:58.430 And then Dulles Airport where the two competing FBO's also 00:32:58.430 --> 00:33:00.935 charge about $9 a gallon for gasoline. 00:33:00.935 --> 00:33:02.870 But anyway, they'll have the METARs 00:33:02.870 --> 00:33:06.230 for your favorite airports and the TAFs and all this, 00:33:06.230 --> 00:33:07.640 and you can set up these charts. 00:33:07.640 --> 00:33:09.872 So basically, as soon as you log in, 00:33:09.872 --> 00:33:12.080 you get a whole bunch of current weather information. 00:33:12.080 --> 00:33:14.780 That's kind of a nice feature for this website. 00:33:14.780 --> 00:33:16.100 And it is free. 00:33:16.100 --> 00:33:20.780 They will give you, just like AviationWeather.gov, they'll 00:33:20.780 --> 00:33:21.710 give you the METAR. 00:33:21.710 --> 00:33:23.990 Here's one for Bedford from the other day. 00:33:23.990 --> 00:33:25.390 I guess that's from the 21st. 00:33:25.390 --> 00:33:26.230 Yeah. 00:33:26.230 --> 00:33:28.490 The wind was 310. 00:33:28.490 --> 00:33:35.060 So it was on the 21st at 0256 Zulu, so it was late at night, 00:33:35.060 --> 00:33:36.530 early in the morning in London. 00:33:36.530 --> 00:33:40.930 Wind was 310 at 18 knots, gusting 25, 00:33:40.930 --> 00:33:43.400 10 miles of visibility, clear. 00:33:43.400 --> 00:33:45.860 Temperature was minus 11, dew point 00:33:45.860 --> 00:33:49.725 minus one niner, altimeter two niner, four seven, 00:33:49.725 --> 00:33:50.600 and there's a remark. 00:33:50.600 --> 00:33:56.750 The peak wind was 310 at 31 knots and that happened at 0225 00:33:56.750 --> 00:33:58.960 Zulu time. 00:33:58.960 --> 00:33:59.460 OK. 00:33:59.460 --> 00:34:01.370 There are private websites. 00:34:01.370 --> 00:34:04.850 The most popular free one is probably fltplan.com at least 00:34:04.850 --> 00:34:06.280 among the turbine crowd. 00:34:06.280 --> 00:34:10.850 They have very accurate models for a lot of jet powered 00:34:10.850 --> 00:34:12.860 or turboprop aircraft. 00:34:12.860 --> 00:34:14.989 And they have some example briefings 00:34:14.989 --> 00:34:16.610 that I think I do want to show you. 00:34:24.770 --> 00:34:26.639 OK. 00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:28.719 Again, you'll have access to this. 00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:31.318 So one nice thing about fltplan.com 00:34:31.318 --> 00:34:34.260 is they start you off with a nav log. 00:34:34.260 --> 00:34:37.620 Remember, we talked about that? 00:34:37.620 --> 00:34:40.739 And in the nav log, they tell you 00:34:40.739 --> 00:34:46.219 what magnetic course to steer. 00:34:46.219 --> 00:34:46.719 Oh, sorry. 00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:49.010 They give you the magnetic course? 00:34:49.010 --> 00:34:50.590 Sorry, magnetic course is 303. 00:34:50.590 --> 00:34:53.440 I guess they don't give you the wind correction angle, or maybe 00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:55.150 the wind's right in our faces. 00:34:55.150 --> 00:34:57.030 No, it's not. 00:34:57.030 --> 00:34:59.610 Maybe this is not such a great site. 00:34:59.610 --> 00:35:00.150 All right. 00:35:00.150 --> 00:35:02.150 Well anyway, they tell you roughly how long it's 00:35:02.150 --> 00:35:04.680 going to take you to get there. 00:35:04.680 --> 00:35:07.980 And they will calculate your ground speed for you. 00:35:07.980 --> 00:35:11.010 So I think I put in the Piper Warrior or something, 00:35:11.010 --> 00:35:15.810 so this is a pretty low airspeed, 124 knots. 00:35:15.810 --> 00:35:22.423 And you can see at the different altitudes 00:35:22.423 --> 00:35:23.840 how much fuel you're going to burn 00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:25.340 and how long it's going to take you. 00:35:25.340 --> 00:35:27.480 So there's really not a lot of difference. 00:35:27.480 --> 00:35:31.550 You can see here, you could go at 10,000 feet 00:35:31.550 --> 00:35:33.260 and take 58 minutes. 00:35:33.260 --> 00:35:36.080 You could go at 4,500 feet and it would take you an hour. 00:35:36.080 --> 00:35:38.390 So there's not a lot to choose from. 00:35:38.390 --> 00:35:41.120 Your airspeed goes up a little bit as you climb higher, 00:35:41.120 --> 00:35:43.655 but the wind is also a little bit stronger. 00:35:46.860 --> 00:35:49.380 They're giving you the weather to go from Bedford 00:35:49.380 --> 00:35:51.330 to Bennington, Vermont. 00:35:51.330 --> 00:35:54.540 Giving you a little bit of information about the runways. 00:35:54.540 --> 00:35:58.380 You can look at the approaches there. 00:35:58.380 --> 00:36:03.940 Departure airport forecast, so look at this. 00:36:03.940 --> 00:36:07.450 Departure airport NOTAM, so they did a pretty good job here. 00:36:07.450 --> 00:36:09.880 They pulled out the most important NOTAM. 00:36:09.880 --> 00:36:11.530 They were doing snow clearing. 00:36:11.530 --> 00:36:13.990 So at Bedford, they said, look, runway 112 niner 00:36:13.990 --> 00:36:17.230 is closed except with one hour of prior permission 00:36:17.230 --> 00:36:19.180 to this phone number. 00:36:19.180 --> 00:36:20.590 Now how about that? 00:36:20.590 --> 00:36:21.940 Look at all those other NOTAMs. 00:36:21.940 --> 00:36:23.830 You can really get lost because they're 00:36:23.830 --> 00:36:26.230 telling you about stuff-- 00:36:26.230 --> 00:36:32.570 taxiway-- Let's go here. 00:36:32.570 --> 00:36:37.640 Taxiway November edge markings obscured maybe by this snow. 00:36:37.640 --> 00:36:38.720 I don't know why. 00:36:38.720 --> 00:36:41.030 Anyway, that's probably not really important. 00:36:41.030 --> 00:36:44.750 That maybe is taxiway that you're not even going to use. 00:36:44.750 --> 00:36:48.410 So this is actually a pretty good computer program, I think, 00:36:48.410 --> 00:36:50.758 because they put that closed runway NOTAM right up 00:36:50.758 --> 00:36:52.550 at the top where you might actually see it, 00:36:52.550 --> 00:36:54.490 and they put it in boldface. 00:36:54.490 --> 00:36:58.350 Anyway, so that's a fltplan.com weather briefing. 00:36:58.350 --> 00:37:01.475 Let's see how ForeFlight presents the same information. 00:37:05.360 --> 00:37:08.600 You saw that before. 00:37:08.600 --> 00:37:11.970 They also give you this wind temperature and turbulence. 00:37:11.970 --> 00:37:13.640 Oh, this is to a different spot. 00:37:13.640 --> 00:37:15.269 This is to Gaithersburg. 00:37:20.160 --> 00:37:23.790 Significant weather from flight level 250 to 630. 00:37:23.790 --> 00:37:27.400 Not going to be able to use that in the Cirrus, unfortunately. 00:37:27.400 --> 00:37:29.830 That's up above 25,000 feet. 00:37:29.830 --> 00:37:31.030 We get the METARs. 00:37:31.030 --> 00:37:34.070 It looks like, sorry, the METARs and TAFs. 00:37:34.070 --> 00:37:36.940 So we get our METAR for Hanscom and it 00:37:36.940 --> 00:37:40.750 looks like they put in boldface the relevant portion 00:37:40.750 --> 00:37:41.500 of the TAF. 00:37:41.500 --> 00:37:43.900 So they're saying, look, at your flight time, 00:37:43.900 --> 00:37:45.693 this is the one that's going to apply. 00:37:45.693 --> 00:37:47.860 It's going to be better than six miles of visibility 00:37:47.860 --> 00:37:52.990 but overcast at 800, so not a bad IFR situation as long 00:37:52.990 --> 00:37:55.780 as you can handle any icing. 00:37:55.780 --> 00:37:58.470 They've color coded a bunch of stuff. 00:37:58.470 --> 00:38:02.115 So you can see here at Worcester, they've got-- 00:38:02.115 --> 00:38:03.600 well, that looks pretty nasty. 00:38:07.040 --> 00:38:11.270 They're forecasting, for example, wind 030 at 11 knots, 00:38:11.270 --> 00:38:14.400 only half a mile of visibility. 00:38:14.400 --> 00:38:15.260 Tina, help me out. 00:38:15.260 --> 00:38:17.040 What's minus PL? 00:38:17.040 --> 00:38:18.950 Freezing fog. 00:38:18.950 --> 00:38:21.210 I don't know what minus PL is, but it sounds bad. 00:38:21.210 --> 00:38:22.037 Overcast 500. 00:38:22.037 --> 00:38:23.370 So they're calling that low IFR. 00:38:31.410 --> 00:38:32.540 Where are the NOTAMs? 00:38:32.540 --> 00:38:34.248 Let me see what they did with the NOTAMs. 00:38:34.248 --> 00:38:37.180 I think it was the same day. 00:38:37.180 --> 00:38:38.170 Ice pellets. 00:38:38.170 --> 00:38:39.130 OK. 00:38:39.130 --> 00:38:41.960 Well, we don't want that. 00:38:41.960 --> 00:38:43.480 So this is an interesting thing. 00:38:43.480 --> 00:38:44.800 ForeFlight kind of missed-- 00:38:44.800 --> 00:38:49.910 I think it was out there, maybe it's here. 00:38:49.910 --> 00:38:50.410 OK. 00:38:50.410 --> 00:38:53.908 So up at the top, it says runway 523 is closed, 00:38:53.908 --> 00:38:56.200 which normally wouldn't bother me at all because that's 00:38:56.200 --> 00:38:57.783 the crosswind runway and we don't like 00:38:57.783 --> 00:38:59.560 to use it unless we have to. 00:39:02.610 --> 00:39:06.210 Maybe that NOTAM was not out at the time that I got this one. 00:39:10.730 --> 00:39:13.080 Yeah, there's nothing about that PPR. 00:39:13.080 --> 00:39:16.680 I guess they hadn't started plowing the snow at that time. 00:39:16.680 --> 00:39:18.960 Anyway, so the NOTAMs are important. 00:39:18.960 --> 00:39:21.300 They can tell you if the airport is 00:39:21.300 --> 00:39:24.450 having some kind of construction going on. 00:39:24.450 --> 00:39:30.180 Mobile apps-- ForeFlight is for the iPhone or iPad only. 00:39:30.180 --> 00:39:32.850 That's a major difference between ForeFlight and Garmin 00:39:32.850 --> 00:39:33.840 Pilot. 00:39:33.840 --> 00:39:35.840 NavMonster is a fun, free app. 00:39:35.840 --> 00:39:39.160 It works at least on iOS, I think on Android, as well. 00:39:39.160 --> 00:39:40.860 That gives you a lot of good stuff. 00:39:40.860 --> 00:39:45.197 WeatherSpork is all three platforms. 00:39:45.197 --> 00:39:47.280 So we're just going to show you ForeFlight in case 00:39:47.280 --> 00:39:52.710 you're not able to come to the talk tomorrow starting at 3:00. 00:39:52.710 --> 00:39:56.310 Here's a little flavor of ForeFlight. 00:39:56.310 --> 00:39:58.890 Notice that in the airport information 00:39:58.890 --> 00:40:01.860 page here on the left, they highlight the fact 00:40:01.860 --> 00:40:04.410 that runway 523 is closed by NOTAM, 00:40:04.410 --> 00:40:06.300 so they're making an attempt to pull out 00:40:06.300 --> 00:40:07.840 the most significant runways. 00:40:07.840 --> 00:40:09.090 But actually, they missed one. 00:40:09.090 --> 00:40:10.710 Look at this. 00:40:10.710 --> 00:40:13.950 Runway 112 niner is also closed except for this one hour 00:40:13.950 --> 00:40:15.150 prior permission. 00:40:15.150 --> 00:40:19.020 Somehow that exception didn't get the software excited. 00:40:19.020 --> 00:40:20.610 So if you showed up, actually this 00:40:20.610 --> 00:40:22.800 is a good example of when you might 00:40:22.800 --> 00:40:27.180 want to run your minimum fuel burn, 00:40:27.180 --> 00:40:28.680 maximum endurance airspeed. 00:40:28.680 --> 00:40:32.028 So you get to the airport and you didn't check the NOTAMs 00:40:32.028 --> 00:40:33.570 or maybe it was a newly issued NOTAM. 00:40:33.570 --> 00:40:35.370 And they tell you the runway's closed 00:40:35.370 --> 00:40:38.380 and it won't reopen for another half hour. 00:40:38.380 --> 00:40:41.760 So in that case, you're going to go out and loiter somewhere 00:40:41.760 --> 00:40:44.310 until the airport reopens unless you 00:40:44.310 --> 00:40:45.990 want to land somewhere else. 00:40:45.990 --> 00:40:47.790 OK. 00:40:47.790 --> 00:40:51.690 The next page is apparently about NOTAMs. 00:40:51.690 --> 00:40:53.970 And over on the right, we have the weather 00:40:53.970 --> 00:40:55.835 which Tina already showed you. 00:40:55.835 --> 00:40:57.210 And you see the density altitude? 00:40:57.210 --> 00:40:58.560 Look at that. 00:40:58.560 --> 00:41:01.470 It's minus 2,500 feet. 00:41:01.470 --> 00:41:05.670 It's 2,500 feet below sea level at Hanscom Field. 00:41:05.670 --> 00:41:09.480 ForeFlight can give you the TAF and the MOS, as I said. 00:41:09.480 --> 00:41:12.360 So this was, I think, on Sunday. 00:41:12.360 --> 00:41:13.740 And have a look there. 00:41:13.740 --> 00:41:15.480 We're getting the weather for Wednesday, 00:41:15.480 --> 00:41:17.850 so we can plan our trip to return-- 00:41:17.850 --> 00:41:19.583 what's today, Wednesday? 00:41:19.583 --> 00:41:21.000 And look, the MOS is pretty right. 00:41:21.000 --> 00:41:21.690 It's nice. 00:41:21.690 --> 00:41:23.340 It's not too much wind. 00:41:23.340 --> 00:41:27.480 190 at 5 knots, overcast below 12,000. 00:41:27.480 --> 00:41:29.010 Here's Garmin Pilot. 00:41:29.010 --> 00:41:32.790 Garmin really believes in the old white on black, 00:41:32.790 --> 00:41:35.580 like a 1970s monitor. 00:41:35.580 --> 00:41:38.220 ForeFlight will actually flip into sort of a style like this 00:41:38.220 --> 00:41:41.190 at nighttime. 00:41:41.190 --> 00:41:47.190 And this one, it doesn't highlight for you. 00:41:47.190 --> 00:41:49.578 It's the same time as I was using ForeFlight, 00:41:49.578 --> 00:41:51.120 and nowhere in here does it highlight 00:41:51.120 --> 00:41:54.420 that that runway 523 is closed or that two niner is 00:41:54.420 --> 00:41:56.100 having any kind of issue. 00:41:56.100 --> 00:41:57.330 I think it was the same time. 00:41:57.330 --> 00:41:58.050 I could be wrong. 00:41:58.050 --> 00:41:58.710 Yeah, see? 00:41:58.710 --> 00:42:00.600 523 closed. 00:42:00.600 --> 00:42:03.930 Runway 1129 closed except one hour prior permission. 00:42:03.930 --> 00:42:06.510 So you're fat, dumb, and happy looking at this page, 00:42:06.510 --> 00:42:08.820 getting all ready to go to Hanscom Field, 00:42:08.820 --> 00:42:10.920 and then if you don't check the NOTAMs, 00:42:10.920 --> 00:42:12.750 you discover that there's no runway. 00:42:12.750 --> 00:42:16.080 So another good reason to always have some reserve fuel 00:42:16.080 --> 00:42:18.940 and not overcommit to your plan. 00:42:18.940 --> 00:42:19.440 All right. 00:42:19.440 --> 00:42:21.540 In-flight weather sources. 00:42:21.540 --> 00:42:25.110 There's something called TWEB, transcribed weather broadcasts. 00:42:25.110 --> 00:42:28.500 You might be asked about it on the exam. 00:42:28.500 --> 00:42:30.540 I doubt it. 00:42:30.540 --> 00:42:35.310 Anyway, that's my friend Eric, again, with his DC-3. 00:42:35.310 --> 00:42:38.520 If you were flying a DC-3 in its prime, 00:42:38.520 --> 00:42:40.740 you might have heard of TWEB. 00:42:40.740 --> 00:42:42.930 HIWAS is still being broadcast off 00:42:42.930 --> 00:42:45.930 of certain VORs that are indicated on the chart. 00:42:45.930 --> 00:42:50.280 So look at this, see that H symbol there in the middle? 00:42:50.280 --> 00:42:53.700 That H symbol tells you that if you tune in to this VOR 00:42:53.700 --> 00:42:55.680 and tell your audio panel in the airplane 00:42:55.680 --> 00:42:59.910 that you want to actually listen to whatever is being modulated, 00:42:59.910 --> 00:43:04.500 that you'll hear this pre-recorded weather 00:43:04.500 --> 00:43:06.510 announcement about maybe thunderstorms 00:43:06.510 --> 00:43:07.840 in a certain area. 00:43:07.840 --> 00:43:10.050 You can call Flight Service Enroute. 00:43:10.050 --> 00:43:12.030 They're very helpful. 00:43:12.030 --> 00:43:13.980 They'll take a PIREP from you and they'll 00:43:13.980 --> 00:43:15.642 tell you what is going on. 00:43:15.642 --> 00:43:17.850 They can call your mom if you're going to be late due 00:43:17.850 --> 00:43:20.130 to forecast headwinds. 00:43:20.130 --> 00:43:24.563 I was actually flying through New York on my way to DC, 00:43:24.563 --> 00:43:25.980 and there were horrible headwinds. 00:43:25.980 --> 00:43:28.480 I was in a Diamond Star, which was not a very fast airplane, 00:43:28.480 --> 00:43:30.390 so when you've got a 50 knot headwind, 00:43:30.390 --> 00:43:34.750 you slow down to a Honda Accord speeds. 00:43:34.750 --> 00:43:37.020 So I asked New York for a frequency change 00:43:37.020 --> 00:43:39.437 to Flight Service and they said, well, why do you need it? 00:43:39.437 --> 00:43:41.610 And I said, well, I want to have them call my mom 00:43:41.610 --> 00:43:43.190 and tell her I'm going to be late. 00:43:43.190 --> 00:43:44.940 And they said, oh, we can do that for you. 00:43:44.940 --> 00:43:48.870 So in between vectoring the airbus's out to Germany, 00:43:48.870 --> 00:43:50.592 they were calling my mom. 00:43:50.592 --> 00:43:52.050 I think each controller in New York 00:43:52.050 --> 00:43:55.050 has an assistant right next to him or her 00:43:55.050 --> 00:43:59.560 and that was who actually made the phone call. 00:43:59.560 --> 00:44:01.170 TINA SRIVASTAVA: Just quick note. 00:44:01.170 --> 00:44:02.430 The last point there. 00:44:02.430 --> 00:44:04.780 So Flight Service can accept your PIREP. 00:44:04.780 --> 00:44:07.200 So when we talked about how you should make a pilot 00:44:07.200 --> 00:44:09.850 report or a PIREP, you can call them and tell them, 00:44:09.850 --> 00:44:12.063 hey, I experienced turbulence. 00:44:12.063 --> 00:44:13.980 PHILIP GREENSPUN: I think if it's really ugly, 00:44:13.980 --> 00:44:19.033 the controllers can also put it in, like if it's icing or-- 00:44:19.033 --> 00:44:20.700 TINA SRIVASTAVA: Wind shear they usually 00:44:20.700 --> 00:44:23.190 accept cause wind shear is such a bad thing, 00:44:23.190 --> 00:44:24.720 and you're fighting the wind shear 00:44:24.720 --> 00:44:26.345 and trying to deal with the wind shear, 00:44:26.345 --> 00:44:29.283 so they'll usually except that PIREP. 00:44:29.283 --> 00:44:30.450 PHILIP GREENSPUN: All right. 00:44:30.450 --> 00:44:31.940 NEXRAD. 00:44:31.940 --> 00:44:35.370 So this is an actual photo of our Cirrus 00:44:35.370 --> 00:44:37.990 screen on our way to Oshkosh. 00:44:37.990 --> 00:44:39.990 So remember, I showed you that one earlier which 00:44:39.990 --> 00:44:42.340 with the track from FlightAware. 00:44:42.340 --> 00:44:49.300 So we had planned to go from Rutland, Vermont, oh, sorry. 00:44:49.300 --> 00:44:52.190 We had planned, I guess, yeah, we came up with a new plan. 00:44:52.190 --> 00:44:56.580 We really wanted to go from Bedford over to Syracuse, 00:44:56.580 --> 00:44:58.850 and I think initially we decided that going to Rutland 00:44:58.850 --> 00:45:05.390 would keep us away from the rain. 00:45:05.390 --> 00:45:07.550 The NEXRAD radar, what they're really seeing 00:45:07.550 --> 00:45:09.660 is water in the clouds. 00:45:09.660 --> 00:45:12.110 So they can actually see rain. 00:45:12.110 --> 00:45:14.510 They can't see a cloud that's just vapor 00:45:14.510 --> 00:45:18.440 and it's going to produce a rain storm at some point. 00:45:18.440 --> 00:45:21.350 They're really seeing the big water droplets of rain. 00:45:21.350 --> 00:45:22.880 Anyway, so we elected to fly over 00:45:22.880 --> 00:45:25.250 here and refuel at Watertown, New York 00:45:25.250 --> 00:45:27.620 instead of at Syracuse. 00:45:27.620 --> 00:45:29.545 Oksana was on that flight. 00:45:29.545 --> 00:45:30.920 We flew through some of that rain 00:45:30.920 --> 00:45:32.450 and it actually was pretty smooth. 00:45:32.450 --> 00:45:34.460 So we probably could have just charged through, 00:45:34.460 --> 00:45:36.520 but we took a more conservative route. 00:45:36.520 --> 00:45:37.020 OK. 00:45:37.020 --> 00:45:39.560 So NEXRAD data, instead of paying 00:45:39.560 --> 00:45:43.550 for a receiver in your airplane and then paying a subscription 00:45:43.550 --> 00:45:47.660 fee, the FAA give you NEXRAD data as well 00:45:47.660 --> 00:45:50.210 as a bunch of other stuff, like some text weather data. 00:45:50.210 --> 00:45:52.670 That's another good reason to be able to read METARs 00:45:52.670 --> 00:45:54.628 because if you're looking at it in the cockpit, 00:45:54.628 --> 00:45:56.240 it could be on a pretty small display 00:45:56.240 --> 00:45:59.150 and the raw format is very compact and actually very 00:45:59.150 --> 00:46:02.690 convenient for in-flight use. 00:46:02.690 --> 00:46:05.910 Anyway, here's a little diagram of how it's transmitted. 00:46:05.910 --> 00:46:08.990 You have to have this-- 00:46:08.990 --> 00:46:11.930 you have to have-- let's see if we talked about this. 00:46:11.930 --> 00:46:16.610 Yeah, so you have to have a UAT receiver to get these data. 00:46:16.610 --> 00:46:19.550 The aircraft position, see the big airliner 00:46:19.550 --> 00:46:25.880 transmitting on 1090 megahertz extended squitter it's called. 00:46:25.880 --> 00:46:29.090 That's fine, but you need to be able to receive 00:46:29.090 --> 00:46:34.070 on 978 megahertz, which is this alternative frequency that I 00:46:34.070 --> 00:46:35.990 guess had more bandwidth available. 00:46:35.990 --> 00:46:38.780 And that's where the FAA can push all these data 00:46:38.780 --> 00:46:41.240 up to you, like about other traffic, even traffic 00:46:41.240 --> 00:46:44.330 who doesn't comply with ADS-B. Although by January 00:46:44.330 --> 00:46:50.630 1st of next year, almost everybody will have ADS-B out 00:46:50.630 --> 00:46:52.760 at least. 00:46:52.760 --> 00:46:56.570 Anyway, so that the feds are pushing this stuff up 00:46:56.570 --> 00:46:57.980 to your airplane. 00:46:57.980 --> 00:47:00.222 I'm going to turn it over to Tina now to talk about-- 00:47:00.222 --> 00:47:02.430 TINA SRIVASTAVA: Yeah, so I just added in this slide. 00:47:02.430 --> 00:47:05.660 This is the one that we had been talking about. 00:47:05.660 --> 00:47:09.830 If you're in a plane that does not have the ADS-B receiver 00:47:09.830 --> 00:47:12.590 but you want to receive that information so that you 00:47:12.590 --> 00:47:16.070 get real-time weather information or real time 00:47:16.070 --> 00:47:18.740 traffic information, you can actually 00:47:18.740 --> 00:47:21.020 make that happen by building it yourself. 00:47:21.020 --> 00:47:21.950 And I did that. 00:47:21.950 --> 00:47:24.020 It really doesn't take very long. 00:47:24.020 --> 00:47:26.660 If you want to seem really cool, you 00:47:26.660 --> 00:47:30.200 can go and buy just a regular Raspberry Pi 00:47:30.200 --> 00:47:31.488 and a couple different parts. 00:47:31.488 --> 00:47:33.530 And also that link will show you how you can just 00:47:33.530 --> 00:47:35.780 buy a little kit where they've put everything together 00:47:35.780 --> 00:47:36.800 and you just buy it. 00:47:36.800 --> 00:47:38.780 It's very easy to assemble. 00:47:38.780 --> 00:47:41.610 So it just has a little Raspberry Pi inside. 00:47:41.610 --> 00:47:45.230 And it has a little cooling fan, and then it has these antennas. 00:47:45.230 --> 00:47:47.820 The Stratics Software is actually 00:47:47.820 --> 00:47:49.850 kind of free, open source software, 00:47:49.850 --> 00:47:50.960 and it's really great. 00:47:50.960 --> 00:47:54.260 And it syncs up to your other apps. 00:47:54.260 --> 00:47:57.080 So for example with ForeFlight, it just 00:47:57.080 --> 00:48:00.530 shows up like a Wi-Fi signal that you connect to. 00:48:00.530 --> 00:48:02.750 And then while you're in the air, when 00:48:02.750 --> 00:48:05.520 you don't have access to this data, 00:48:05.520 --> 00:48:07.040 this will actually update. 00:48:07.040 --> 00:48:10.970 So you can see on the right is kind of a zoomed in picture 00:48:10.970 --> 00:48:12.080 from ForeFlights. 00:48:12.080 --> 00:48:14.720 So it shows that you can see the weather 00:48:14.720 --> 00:48:16.730 on the bottom left corner and then 00:48:16.730 --> 00:48:21.900 you also see these little pictures that show traffic. 00:48:21.900 --> 00:48:23.990 So yeah, exactly. 00:48:23.990 --> 00:48:27.140 So on the further bottom right, you can also see-- 00:48:27.140 --> 00:48:30.230 it just shows you other airplanes, other traffic, 00:48:30.230 --> 00:48:32.455 and kind of the altitude that they're at. 00:48:32.455 --> 00:48:33.830 And so it's really useful I think 00:48:33.830 --> 00:48:36.860 it's kind of nice to have, especially in a little airplane 00:48:36.860 --> 00:48:39.410 to have that visibility and knowledge that you're not just 00:48:39.410 --> 00:48:43.880 relying on Flight Service giving or kind of like a area 00:48:43.880 --> 00:48:46.190 controller giving you traffic advisories, 00:48:46.190 --> 00:48:48.740 but you can see it in advance. 00:48:48.740 --> 00:48:51.200 We're about to dive into human factors, 00:48:51.200 --> 00:48:55.250 and Philip has talked a lot about using the person sitting 00:48:55.250 --> 00:48:58.460 next to you whether they are actually a pilot or just 00:48:58.460 --> 00:48:59.810 a friend. 00:48:59.810 --> 00:49:02.780 Even just a friend can sit there and hold the iPad 00:49:02.780 --> 00:49:05.120 and see the little blue traffic. 00:49:05.120 --> 00:49:07.790 And then when they hear on the radio that's someone saying, 00:49:07.790 --> 00:49:09.980 hey, it looks like in this situation, 00:49:09.980 --> 00:49:13.460 no traffic, 3 o'clock, you're trying to look for that plane. 00:49:13.460 --> 00:49:15.740 Well, they can have a little sense of, OK, yeah, 00:49:15.740 --> 00:49:17.570 it's near that, and they can help 00:49:17.570 --> 00:49:19.470 you find the other aircraft. 00:49:19.470 --> 00:49:20.465 So it's very helpful. 00:49:20.465 --> 00:49:22.840 PHILIP GREENSPUN: How much were the parts for that, Tina? 00:49:22.840 --> 00:49:24.410 TINA SRIVASTAVA: It's like $80. 00:49:24.410 --> 00:49:24.820 PHILIP GREENSPUN: OK. 00:49:24.820 --> 00:49:25.320 Yeah. 00:49:25.320 --> 00:49:27.620 So the ones that you can buy commercially all packaged, 00:49:27.620 --> 00:49:28.730 like the Stratux-- 00:49:28.730 --> 00:49:30.890 I think this is a play on Stratus. 00:49:30.890 --> 00:49:33.040 This is one of the competitors in that market. 00:49:33.040 --> 00:49:36.980 They're anywhere from $400 to $1,000, I think. 00:49:36.980 --> 00:49:42.530 The commercial ones also have an electronic gyro in there 00:49:42.530 --> 00:49:45.410 and AHARs, attitude heading reference system. 00:49:45.410 --> 00:49:49.290 So they can actually give you on your iPad an attitude indicator 00:49:49.290 --> 00:49:53.770 and some information about your speed and so forth. 00:49:53.770 --> 00:49:54.270 All right. 00:49:54.270 --> 00:49:58.090 So this is a reminder that, again, all those data 00:49:58.090 --> 00:50:02.700 are intended to help you fly within the VFR weather 00:50:02.700 --> 00:50:04.800 minimums, which provide a good margin of safety. 00:50:08.540 --> 00:50:13.480 I put this $20 magazine up here for you guys 00:50:13.480 --> 00:50:16.000 because this whole talk has really 00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:18.190 been about software and different ways of spinning 00:50:18.190 --> 00:50:19.760 the same data. 00:50:19.760 --> 00:50:23.302 So this is everything, in case you're not a core six major. 00:50:23.302 --> 00:50:24.760 This is everything you need to know 00:50:24.760 --> 00:50:29.247 to become a programmer in one $20 magazine. 00:50:29.247 --> 00:50:31.330 TINA SRIVASTAVA: So we're running a little behind. 00:50:31.330 --> 00:50:33.580 So I'm going to go straight to human factors. 00:50:33.580 --> 00:50:35.080 While I'm pulling it up, let Phillip 00:50:35.080 --> 00:50:36.760 know if you have any more questions. 00:50:36.760 --> 00:50:38.510 PHILIP GREENSPUN: Yeah, anything going on? 00:50:40.714 --> 00:50:43.315 AUDIENCE: How do you know if your weather briefing is 00:50:43.315 --> 00:50:45.980 adequate with all these sources out there and you're not good. 00:50:45.980 --> 00:50:47.840 I'm just not really sure. 00:50:47.840 --> 00:50:49.590 PHILIP GREENSPUN: That's a great question. 00:50:49.590 --> 00:50:51.965 How do you know if you're a weather briefing is adequate? 00:50:51.965 --> 00:50:54.500 The professional weather briefers at Leidos, 00:50:54.500 --> 00:50:59.290 at 1-800-WX-BRIEF, they tend to go a little above and beyond. 00:50:59.290 --> 00:51:02.330 They'll give you NOTAMs about any VOR that's out of service 00:51:02.330 --> 00:51:05.120 on your route of flight, even if you're navigating with the GPS. 00:51:05.120 --> 00:51:10.340 So if you're at all unsure, just do your self-service stuff 00:51:10.340 --> 00:51:13.640 online, and then just call 1-800-WX-BRIEF and ask 00:51:13.640 --> 00:51:14.760 for a full briefing. 00:51:14.760 --> 00:51:16.670 It won't take you more than 10 minutes, 00:51:16.670 --> 00:51:19.930 and you will definitely be at least-- 00:51:19.930 --> 00:51:22.058 you'll probably be over briefed, at that point. 00:51:22.058 --> 00:51:23.600 They'll tell you about an unlit tower 00:51:23.600 --> 00:51:27.380 even if you're flying at noon, and there's 00:51:27.380 --> 00:51:30.710 no possibility of it being dark and the lighting on the tower 00:51:30.710 --> 00:51:33.160 making a difference.