One thing that I underestimate about flying airplanes is weather. Of course I knew that wind would affect the flight of an airplane, but there are many more things which can alter the performance of a plane in flight. First off, the way a pilot reads weather can seem alien to a person not involved with aviation. There’s an example:

KFRG 120053Z 22011KT23G 10SM OVC056 01/M07 A3063 RMK AO2 SLP374 T10111072

This is the current weather for my base airport. It looks confusing, but after reading and using it a few times, it’s easy to understand. “KFRG” is the airport decoder. K denotes that the airport is located in the US, and FRG is the airport (Republic. FRG because Republic airport is located in the town of FaRminGdale) 120053Z is the date time which the weather report was made. 12 means that the report was made on the 12th of this month, and 0053 is the time in Zulu. Zulu or Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) is Greenwich Mean Time. 22011K23G is the wind information. The first three digits, 220 is the direction from which the wind is coming, so south by southwest. 11 is the strength of the wind. K means the wind is measured in knots. The 23G means the winds are also gusting to 23 knots. 10SM means visibility is 10 statute miles. OVC056 means that the clouds are overcast at 056 feet or 5,600 feet. Next is the temperature. Which is 01 degree Celsius and the dew point is negative 07. The M denotes negative, or minus. There won’t ever be a “-” symbol. The last information in this weather report which applies to pilots is the A3063. A means altimeter and the altimeter is currently 3063 or 30.63 on the barometric sale.

There is an incredible amount of things which weather can tell a pilot. Another important which a pilot must keep in mind is the weather minimums. This will tell a pilot if they should fly Visual Flight Rules or Instrument Flight Rules. There are different regulations which pilots must adhere to in order to fly in either of these conditions. In a very general term, VFR means better weather than IFR. Only pilots who are instrument rated may fly during IFR conditions. For information about IFR and instrument ratings, go to the License page.

Weather itself affects the performance of an airplane. For example, when the temperature is hot, the air is less dense. This means that performance is decreased. The more air molecules there are, the better an airplane performs. Therefore, airplanes perform the best at low altitudes and in cold temperatures. During the summer, an airplane must roll longer to takeoff, and do a longer landing roll in order to slow down to a safe speed for taxiing. In addition, pilots must be careful of engine temperatures during summer months, or when in hot climates.

There are over 20 different types of weather reports. Some are more important than others. The report in the example at the top of the post is an example of a METAR or meteorological aviation report. These tell the current weather, from when the report was made for a specific location. The weather report which shows a forecast is a TAF or terminal aerodrome forecast the forecast is valid for a specific location for up to 24 hours. A PIREP or pilot report is a report which is made by a pilot in flight. These are valuable because they are good ways to knowing what the exact weather is like at the altitude which they are made. Other reports include AIRMETs and SIGMETs which report dangerous weather such as thunderstorms and tornadoes, winds aloft reports, and HIWAS or hazardous in flight weather reports.

Many people feel that weather is the most import aspect to flying airplanes. While it can be insignificant on certain situations, it is something which every pilot on every flight must pay close attention to and plan for. 

I saw an awesome presentation today during my ground school class. it isn’t anything that has to do with the course but it was a presentation on the future of airspace and navigation. Today, pilots use VORs to travel from one area to another. This means that there can be heavy traffic surrounding one of these VORs. However, NextGen is the future of airspace. It explains how satellites instead of radars will control airplanes. This will eventually allows for more planes to fly over the USA with safer conditions. NexGen has started to be incorporated into a few large airports include JFK in New York and the major airport in Philadelphia. The accompanying video explains the future of aviation navigation much better than me.

Since I missed the beginning of both the flight training as well as the ground school, I wanted to say a few things about the ground school. The last post has some of my experiences with the first few times I went up in a plane.

The ground school class is just like any college course. Twice a week my class and I meet in a room at the airport and learn about everything private pilots need to know. The first few lessons were about some of the FAA regulations, the airplane’s parts, the structure of the airplane and basic aerodynamics. After the first month, we started to get into the systems of the airplane. This incorporates the power plant (engine and propeller), fuel system, heating, oil system and braking systems. Every plane is different so I won’t go into the specifics for the plane I’m currently training in. In the first two months, the areas which needed more time were aerodynamics and aircraft systems. Basically, for aerodynamics, we learned what makes a plane fly. It wasn’t really hard but it was a lot of material. We went over stability, being streamline, stalling, spins, and emergency procedures.

There have been two tests so far in the class. The first test wasn’t so bad. In order to stay in part 141 I needed to get at least an 80% on it. I ended up with a 96%. Out of the 50 questions, I got two wrong; two questions which I would have gotten right if I read the answers more closely. The second test was centered on airport operations. Taxiing, navigating around the airport and radio communications were all covered in the second part of the class. Also, radar and air traffic control was explained. The second test was a little harder than the first, but not so bad. I ended up with a 94% on it and was able to stay In 141. For an understanding of part 141, vs. part 61, go to the ‘License’ page.

Personally, the ground class is generally more challenging than the flight training. Some of my classmates think the flying is harder. I find the flying easier because it’s what I signed up for. I like learning about how airplanes work and their systems, but I’d rather be up in the air than on the ground.

This week starts the third and final part of the ground school for private pilot. We’ll start with navigation, and end with a review for the third test as well as the private pilot ground school FAA exam. Again, look to ‘licenses’ for an explanation of the FAA’s role in training.