Pilots gain renewed confidence in their ability to make the right decisions before every flight

Chesapeake Aviation Training, of Baltimore, Maryland, has announced the next locations for their highly-regarded two-day weather seminars for pilots. These two-day weather-based safety seminars entitled "Weather or Not" introduce pilots to many aspects of weather planning not taught in traditional aviation training.

"Pilots need to balance their desire to fly with their need to minimize exposure to hazardous weather such as icing, thunderstorms and fog, " says CAT's Scott Dennstaedt, who has designed the "Weather or Not" seminars for that very purpose. He hopes that pilots will walk away from these seminars with a renewed confidence in their ability to make a well-informed judgment before every flight.

Meteorologists are also hungry for PIREPs

Pilots truly need those hard-to-come-by reports, better known as PIREPs, especially when the conditions along their planned route are marginal. Are pilots reporting ice? What severity? Are there reports of any severe turbulence? Where are the cloud tops? However, pilots are not the only ones hungry for PIREPs.

Meteorologists use PIREPs when they construct or amend area forecasts (FAs) and terminal aerodrome forecasts (TAFs). An urgent PIREP (UUA) of severe icing or severe turbulence may trigger the Aviation Weather Center (AWC) to convert an existing AIRMET into a SIGMET, based solely on the conditions reported by a single pilot. Additionally, a PIREP may extend an AIRMET or SIGMET in both time and area. Keep in mind that the AWC is not only looking for adverse weather PIREPs; they also welcome PIREPs indicating severe clear conditions especially in areas in close proximity to adverse weather.

The AWC treats every PIREP seriously. Pilots become the eyes and ears of the meteorologists that are working hard to provide other pilots with the safest flight environment. Yes, even a pilot's ears provided a valuable piece of information to the meteorologist at the AWC. This past winter, during some snow squalls in New England, a Cessna pilot reported hearing thunder after landing. The pilot filed a report and this immediately prompted the meteorologist at the AWC to amend the area forecast (FA) to include -TSRA with CB TOP FL200.

Seminar Covers In-Depth Weather Information Not Otherwise Available

The weekend-long seminar dissects two familiar weather products and introduces several weather products that are extremely useful, but may not be familiar to most pilots. The featured segments teach pilots how to understand and make practical use of:

• NEXRAD images
• Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs)
• Tools to assess atmospheric instability
• Weather forecasting models for short- and long-range planning.

In addition to the topics above, there will be plenty of time available for an interactive discussion about all facets of weather planning.

Seminar Dates and Costs

Chesapeake Aviation Training is holding the "Weather or Not" weekend-long seminar in the following locations:

• Oxford, CT (KOXC) on September 18th - September 19th, 2004
• Birmingham, AL (KBHM) on October 9th - October 10th, 2004.

The price of the two-day seminar is $350. Student pilots holding a valid student pilot's certificate and FAA-certified flight instructors can receive a discounted price of $250. The price above includes lunch on Saturday and Sunday and a free CD containing the presentation slides.

Chesapeake Aviation Training was founded in 2001. It is a privately held firm headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. 

FMI: http://chesavtraining.com, contact@chesavtraining.com, 1-410-379-5731