Aero-Tips!

A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of "there are no old, bold pilots.") It's part of what makes aviation so exciting for all of us... just when you think you've seen it all, along comes a scenario you've never imagined.

Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner, master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us -- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators, and as representatives of the flying community. Some of them, you may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we might never have considered before, or something that didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for the practical test.

It is our unabashed goal that "Aero-Tips" will help our readers become better, safer pilots -- as well as introducing our ground-bound readers to the concepts and principles that keep those strange aluminum-and-composite contraptions in the air... and allow them to soar magnificently through it.

Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you through the Aero-News Network. Suggestions for future Aero-Tips are always welcome, as are additions or discussion of each day's tips.

Remember... when it comes to being good pilots, we're all in this together.

Aero-Tips 01.04.06

There’s one user fee I wholeheartedly support -- a fee for taking advantage of Flight Service Station briefings. The cost? One Pilot Report (PIREP).

Surface weather observations describe only the lowest level of the atmosphere, in the immediate vicinity of airports. Many observations are robotic, lacking the finer details of human description and insight. Area forecasts are too wide-ranging to describe specific locations. Radar shows only precipitation, not other hazards; satellite imagery depicts only the top of the highest cloud layer. Observations are dated the moment they’re taken, while forecasts are guesses and less accurate the farther out. The only way to fill the gaps and overcome these shortcomings is for pilots themselves to describe weather.

For the system to work, we need lots of PIREPs. Describe good weather as well as bad -- wouldn’t you like to get reports of better-than-expected weather as least as much as those of bad? Consider filing a PIREP as your fee for taking advantage of the Flight Service briefing network.

File a Pilot Report:

1. As soon as practical in the flight, describing conditions near the airport and in the climb
2. Upon encountering any aviation weather hazard (reduced visibility, thunderstorms, ice and/or turbulence)
3. Hourly regardless of flight conditions
4. Whenever you contact Flight Service for any reason
5. If practical, describing conditions for descent, approach and landing

Aero-Tip of the day: File useful PIREPs as the “cost of doing business” with Flight Service.

FMI: Aero-Tips