Because there wasn’t already enough info on your Sectional Chart Since the FAA was only able to cram five thousand and one pieces of info onto your sectional chart, they decided that they wanted to give you even more information and they thought the best way to do this was through a Chart Supplement (note: the… Continue reading Chart Suplement
Topic Category: Private Pilot
Terminal Area Charts
TAC Charts Please don’t call them TAC Charts (you are literally saying Terminal Area Chart Charts). In any case, these charts contain awesome detailed information for VFR pilots who plan to fly near some of the busier airspace in the NAS. The two main things I want you to take away from this TOPIC are:… Continue reading Terminal Area Charts
FLYWAY Charts
VFR FLYWAY Charts So what exactly is a FLYWAY chart? Well, it’s a chart that depicts VFR FLYWAYs of course. A VFR FLYWAY is a route underlying busy CLASS B airspace showing where ATC and the FAA would prefer you to transition underneath the busy overlying airspace. It also has the same jet arrival and… Continue reading FLYWAY Charts
AIRMETS / SIGMETS
AIRMETs and SIGMETs The big scary warnings of when not to fly! If you remember almost nothing from this TOPIC, then just REMEMBER these two things: AIRMETS are bad news for little GA airplanes and you should avoid flying in or near an area covered by an AIRMET SIGMETS are very bad news for any… Continue reading AIRMETS / SIGMETS
Surface / Prog Charts
Surface Analysis and Prognostic Charts Surface analysis and Prog charts are my favorite way to get a big picture view of what the weather will be doing over the next few hours and into the next few days even. One thing you will learn about weather forecasting as you study aviation weather is that although… Continue reading Surface / Prog Charts
Radar Summary Charts
To sum it up, ya there’s a lotta rain out there…. Watch the video above, and after that, take notes below. What you need to REMEMBER: Colors vary based on the provider, always check the decibel levels of radar returns to determine true intensity of the echos The direction of cells is displayed with barbs… Continue reading Radar Summary Charts
PIREPS
Pilot Reports This isn’t a report card of how good of a pilot you are (but good pilots do know how to read PIREPS). A PIREP is either information volunteered by a Pilot to ATC or requested from the Pilot by ATC (ATC then enters it into the system). It is simply a report of… Continue reading PIREPS
Mountain Weather
Nice Hat! I want a hat like that! Looks pretty cool! Now we’ve already talked about clouds, but in this TOPIC we are going to talk about two cloud types specifically associated with mountains and big hills, as well as some of the things to be aware of when flying near mountains. We could spend… Continue reading Mountain Weather
Thunderstorms / Convective Activity
Ain’t that pretty?! Well ya, but it would probably be a lot less pretty if you were flying in the middle of it rather than on the ground trying to figure out which filter made your pictures look the best on your new iPhone. In this TOPIC we’ll go over how thunderstorms form and how… Continue reading Thunderstorms / Convective Activity
Icing
Brrr…..its cold! It’s safe to say this airplane isn’t going flying anytime soon. In this TOPIC we are going to talk about the factors that make ice form on airplanes as well as the different types of icing, what to do if you suspect icing, and how to get rid of it. First off, why… Continue reading Icing