Wed, Mar 07, 2007
Online Course Will Show You How
The
AOPA Air Safety Foundation is calling on all pilots to help reduce
the number of weather-related accidents by giving a pilot report
(pirep) on every flight. The Foundation tells ANN it has completely
redesigned its online course -- "SkySpotter: Pireps Made Easy" --
which the group says makes it fun to learn how to give, get, and
use pireps effectively.
"Most pilots have been faced with a questionable weather
forecast and wished there were more real-time weather reports
available to help with their go/no-go decision," said Bruce
Landsberg, executive director of the AOPA Air Safety Foundation.
"The pirep is the best possible solution to this need yet they are
all too rare."
AOPA states the new and improved SkySpotter program encourages
pilots to report when the weather is better than, worse than, or
the same as forecast -- in other words, on every flight. By doing
so, pilots help each other to make an educated go/no-go decision,
by either confirming the weather reports or describing what the
weather conditions really are.
The leading cause of general aviation weather-related accidents
is flying visual flight rules (VFR) into instrument meteorological
conditions (IMC). Weather briefers sometimes tell pilots that VFR
is not recommended, if marginal weather is being reported in the
area. Pireps help to debunk those forecasts or validate them, which
in turn helps to lower the number of accidents due to VFR into
IMC.
Pireps provide critical weather information, such as cloud
layers, icing, and turbulence that cannot be accurately obtained
from other sources. They also fill in the gaps between ground-based
weather reporting stations. Pireps offer real-time in-flight
weather information that is invaluable to pilots and weather
forecasters.
The goal of the "SkySpotter: Pireps Made Easy" course is to
improve the quality and quantity of pireps across the country. The
course qualifies for AOPA Accident Forgiveness and FAA WINGS.
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