Pilots Gain Renewed Confidence In Their Ability To Make The Right Decisions Before Flight

Chesapeake Aviation Training, of Baltimore, Maryland, today announced a series of two-day weather seminars for pilots. This two-day weather-based seminar will introduce pilots to many aspects of weather planning not taught in basic aviation training. The pilot will walk away from the seminar with a renewed confidence in their ability to make a well-informed judgment before every flight.

"Weather is a factor in most fatal aviation accidents," according to seminar author and presenter, Scott Dennstaedt. "The goal is to help pilots recognize adverse weather prior to flight and develop a plan to avoid it while in flight."

Industry Report Cites Weather Knowledge as a Key Safety Issue

According to the 2002 Nall Aviation Safety Report, poor preflight planning and flight into adverse weather are the primary cause of most weather-related accidents. While many of the accidents involved low-time pilots, high-time pilots including ATPs are not immune to these preventable accidents.

Pilots need to balance their desire to fly with their need to minimize exposure to hazardous weather such as icing, thunderstorms and fog. Mr. Dennstaedt designed the "Weather or Not" seminar for that very purpose.

Scott Dennstaedt Combines Aviation and Weather Experience

Mr. Scott Dennstaedt will present the two-day seminar. Mr. Dennstaedt is an experienced FAA-certified instrument flight instructor (CFII) and meteorologist in the Baltimore-Washington area. Besides presenting weather seminars, he is a contributing editor and writer for IFR and IFR Refresher magazines.

Seminar Covers In-Depth Weather Information Not Available in Aviation Training

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 such as thermodynamic diagrams and
• 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 "Weather or Not" seminars at the following locations:

• August 9-10, 2003 at Cincinnati Hawk Center in Batavia, OH (I69)
• August 23-24, 2003 at Signature Flight Support in Baltimore, Maryland (KBWI)
• September 6-7, 2003, Atlanta, Georgia (KPDK).
• September 27-28, 2003, Rapid City, South Dakota (KRAP)
• October 4-5, 2003, Northern CA
• October  18-19, 2003, Southern CA
• November 8-9, 2003, Charleston, SC

The price of the two-day seminar is $350. An early bird discount price of $275 is available until 45 days before the published seminar date. Student pilots holding a valid student pilot's certificate receive a discounted price of $225. The price above includes a light lunch on Saturday and Sunday, refreshments and a CD containing the presentation slides. Chesapeake Aviation Training is committed to providing the most practical flight and ground training the industry has to offer. Founded in 2001, Chesapeake Aviation Training is a privately held firm headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.

FMI: 1-410-379-5731, chesavtraining@comcast.net