How Does a Pilot Check the Weather?
By Chris Murray on June 15, 2012, 11:14pm
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Pilots use a plethora of resources to access the weather for obvious reasons. They check the weather not to tell what it'll be like tomorrow - whether it's sunny or if it's going to rain but, rather, aviation weather contains much information than that. It tells them such specifies like what they temperatures will be like at 50,000 feet or what's the winds doing up there....like if I'll be flying against a headwind or with a tailwind.
Recreational, or private pilots like myself, have access to some of the many resources that the commecial pilots use for weather purposes. One of these sites is http://aviationweather.gov/ that contains lots of information but there's one particular tool that I use and that is the TAF - Terminal Aerodrome Forecast. TAFs apply to a five statute mile radius from the center of the airport runway complex. Generally, TAFs can apply to a 9- or 12-hour forecast; some TAFs cover an 18- or 24-hour period. I generally trust the the TAF more than I would a local weather report from a news station or a weather report from The Weather Channel, and my instructor is the same. In fact, most flight instructors I've come across will tell you the same.
In future articles, I will delve deeper into TAF's but for now, let's just say that the weather is playing an important part when we fly to our business meetings, vacations, etc.
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