Flying/Met Books

[dublinpilot]

When I was studying for the PPL met exam, I used the Trevor Thom book. I understood this and had no difficulty with any of the concepts in it and passed the met exam with no problems.

However while I understand what is happening, and what to expect having reviewed the met reports/forcasts, I still have difficulty in predicting myself, what is going to happen next!!

With this in mind, I was thinking of buying two books that I saw in a cateloge recently, and was wondering if anyone else had read them, and what they though of them.

The books concerned are "The Weather Handbook" and "Instant Weather Forcasting" both by Alan Watts.

I am also considering buying, out of interest, "Severe Weather Flying" by Denis Newton.

Anyone have any comments on those books?

[bookworm]

I think Instant Weather Forecasting is good to have, as it has photos of a large number of different conditions. However, for a better understanding of the weather I would strongly recommend Tom Bradbury's Meteorology and Flight (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/071364446X/).

Denis Newton's Severe Weather Flying is an absolute must for any IFR pilot's bookshelf. But it does deal predominantly with Thunderstorms and Icing from the pilots point of view, and so may not be of so much interest if you're just looking to interpret model charts to see if the weather is suitable for a VFR bimble.

[dublinpilot]

Thanks bookworm. Meteorology and flight look good.

[Jinkster]

Agree with Bookworm, my ATPL instructor swears by tom bradburys books.

Jinkster

[mixture]

The best I have found and would highly recommend it to anybody (either revising for exams or otherwise) is :


Meteorology for Pilots
Mike Wickson

Airlife Publishing Ltd.
(The one I have is 2nd edition, ISBN 1-85310-943-6)



It gives quite a detailed, but easy to read account of why the weather behaves as it does. He even tells you how to interpret satellite images.


If you need any more convincing, here is the stuff from the back cover about the author :

"The Author

Squadron Leader Mike Wickson was born and educated in Oxford and was trained in the RAF as a 'Specialist Navigator'. During his 24 years service he spent some years in research and development at Boscombe Down and other research establishments. He instructed at the RAF Flying College and at the navigation schools. MIke also taught meteorology to student pilots at the Army Flying School, Middle Wallop. After the RAF he was appointed as one of the managers for the Concorde project with posts at Filton, Bristol and at the Concord Flight Test centre at Fairford Gloucestershire. In 1973 he became one of the three original directors of Stanley Thornes, the educational publisher. He subsequently joined OATs and became the senior lecturer in aviation meteorology."