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Pilots watch weather- they are trained from the very start to assess weather, both current and forecast. Wind speed and direction, cloud cover, visibility, anything that might affect the safety of flight is carefully examined and evaluated. So what\u2019s the problem? Sometimes, we tend to forget the most important feature about weather- it can change quickly, and because it is so volatile, we can make the mistake of not recognizing how quickly a forecast can go out of date.<\/p>\n
Stale weather is the cause of two main pilot errors. The first is that we can end up in weather that i![\"\"](\"https:\/\/charlestonflightschool.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/weather-1.jpg\")
s just not supposed to be there. Yesterday\u2019s forecast did not even hint of fog, yet here it is. Of course, this has the most potential to be dangerous to your flight, but also easily remedied- if you start to see unexpected weather, land or reverse course and live to fly another day. It\u2019s really that simple.<\/p>\n
The other mistake isn\u2019t dangerous but frustrating- deciding not to fly based on old information and here I am specifically referring to forecasts that are several days old. I have talked to pilots who decided against a flight a week in advance because the weather channel predicted rain for that day. Here\u2019s the problem-weather forecasting just ain\u2019t that good.<\/p>\n
My flight instructor for my Private license was Woody Faison- a grand gentleman who had flown bombers in WW2. Actually, he flew just about everything and retired from the Air Force after a long illustrious service. He was soft-spoken, with a Tennessee-mountain drawl, and while we were planning our first cross-country flight, he told me \u201cAny forecast over three days is basically a crap-shoot.\u201d I was concerned because the extended forecast on the local TV station was calling for thunderstorms for the following Saturday- a good week in advance. He was not concerned, even a little, and he was right not to be- the weather for our flight was picture perfect.<\/p>\n
I was reminded of this a few days ago- on Thursday, the local weather guys were predicting an 80% chance of rain for the following Monday. There was a front coming in and we were in for a wet start of the week. My wife looked at me and told me she guessed I wouldn\u2019t be golfing on Monday afternoon. Thinking of Woody, I said, \u201cMaybe.\u201d On Friday, that 80% had changed to 50%, and it fell to 20% on Saturday. By Sunday, it was less than 10%. Monday was dry and I golfed- poorly, as usual, but I was outside and dry. That Monday evening, when I came home from the course, she said, \u201dI\u2019m really surprised you got your game in after that forecast last week.\u201d I had my answer ready: \u201cAny forecast over three days is basically a crap-shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thank you, Woody.<\/p>\n
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Don’t Like The Weather? Just Wait…Pilots watch weather- they are trained from the very start to assess weather, both current and forecast. Wind speed and direction, cloud cover, visibility, anything that might affect the safety of flight is carefully examined and evaluated. So what\u2019s the problem? Sometimes, we tend to forget the most important feature […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n