Comments on: Thunderous week – again or still?

By: Mark McCormick

Mark McCormick — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 04:28:04 +0000

Agree with Mike Massell. I don’t want old data in my 777 cockpit and besides it wouldn’t be integrated with the FMC. Dispatch is the resource for long range planning, especially when flying international.

By: Andy Young

Andy Young — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 18:37:05 +0000

How about a two-panel poster to put up in willing FBOs? The first panel shows a thunderstorm, the second a broken bits of an airplane on the ground (after inflight structural failure) in the sort of nice weather that typically comes shortly afterward. Harder to do, but perhaps helpful: arrange it so that anytime someone gets a convective SIGMET when checking weather online, this poster comes up and must be clicked past to move on. As mentioned by someone else, there will always be a few who disregard all warnings.

By: Bill Geary CFIAME-ATP

Bill Geary CFIAME-ATP — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 16:38:01 +0000

Bruce
Great story line. After flying for years making “Go no Go” decisions as PIC and having the added thrill of riding as a passenger in the back seat of airliners during IMC flights, it was a treat to have you share your experience. Flying safely especially while maneuvering around buildups certainly is a skill. Having a window seat on an airline flight sure has it’s benefits. Thanks for Keepin up your great work through the years. Airmen sure are some of “the chosen few”
Bill G

By: Allen Morris

Allen Morris — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 16:06:52 +0000

My latest blog (http://therogueaviator.wordpress.com/) discusses the Trw summer months conundrum. The highlight is an excerpt from The Rogue Aviator (www.therogueaviator.com) that describes a horrifying flight in a Learjet with an inop radar at night in an area of imbedded thunderstorms. It serves as additional incentive to avoid them “thunder-bumpers.”
Allen Morris/aka Ace Abbott

By: Tom Clarke

Tom Clarke — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 14:17:25 +0000

That box is not called “Weather Avoidance Radar” for nothing!

By: wade russell

wade russell — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 14:11:58 +0000

My Malibu has both radar and “down link wx”. I would not DREAM of flying on most days in SE USA w/out the downlink from WxWorx! It tells you what is BEHIND and beyond what onboard radar sees! That is just critical for route deviations because of convective build-ups. A huge safety improvement, INMHO. thnx., Wade Russell

By: Bruce Landsberg

Bruce Landsberg — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:39:19 +0000

Mike….

An absolutely fair question! The real benefit to using nexrad is not to get tactical with it but for a more strategic view of where to go. Having been fortunate to have used datalink almost since it’s inception, I’ve found latency not to be a real problem if you remember that it’s there. What you see isn’t exactly what may be happening and ( we can’t say this enough) the pilot must understand the nature of the system or cells they’re dealing with. Explosive or high energy – really wide berth. Isolated and slow growing – one can be a little closer.

Just my opinion but I think we ( and the airlines if they could get get it ) are better off using datalink even if it isn’t a 100% solution.

Thanks for your thoughts.

By: Mike Massell

Mike Massell — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:12:38 +0000

It’s interesting that Bruce “tweaked the Captain a bit” regarding not having datalink weather in the cockpit when the NTSB recently sent out a safety alert indicating that the image displayed could be 15 to 20 minutes old. I wonder if the two aircraft above that fell apart in the sky were trying to pick there way through the weather with datalink weather. Not exactly the seed you want to plant at this time until the users really understand how and when to use the information. Perhaps there’s a reason why it hasn’t been blessed for the airlines to use.

By: John Ahern

John Ahern — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 15:39:24 +0000

Bruce:

Regarding the17% – Does the phrase “you can lead a horse to water…” come to mind? I think no matter how much effort you and AOPA put out to teach about the dangers of flying through thunderstorms there will always be the one or two pilots who think it won’t happen to them. So what you are doing is getting through to 99.99% of the pilots.

John

By: Phillip Stacy

Phillip Stacy — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:55:45 +0000

Bruce, I have a suggestion. As most of us in GA use NEXRAD, I say when the the aircraft’s plot or distance to a cell is reached, a message should pop up. “Is penetrating this CB worth your or your passanger’s life?” BTW: I’ll miss seeing you at Oshkosh this year…:(