Glad I am not the only one who talks about these things with the wife/girlfriend etc. I have passed the air law, and most recently MET - I always find myself gazing into the sky naming clouds and stuff like that - its good in a way because this is stuff that we all should know, not just pilots. The MET is basic stuff when you consider the weather as a whole and its something that people take for granted. I think its great to be able to understand WHY the weather is the way it is - I mean, how many people do you know that could give you a
reasonable explanation as to why clouds formed? And as to why the clouds seem to move in a slightly different direction to the wind (corolis effect). Once you have read the book and learned the questions, try and use this new found knowlede when outdoors, even when seeing weather reports on TV - you can see occluded/cold/warm fronts on the chart and I bet not a lot of people could tell you what they are. My girlfriend must get so fed up of me talking about flying and weather and allkinds all the time - but it will pay off one day when I can put my money where my mouth is and take her flying for the first time, only then will she appreciate the true value of all this learning and cost and all the
that goes with it. I think that people just dont understand all this until they experience it for themselves. Sometimes I find myself explaining to people WHY I am studying for a PPL? Like its any of their business to question my intrest, but like I said - those people who know nothing and say everything, and who are always off the mark to criticise, will never know anything until they can do it for themselves!!
Back on the exam side of things - I thought the MET wasnt too bad. The only thing I thought was quite difficult was looking at various METARS/TAFS and having to pick one which closely matched the metform chart - some of the questions seemd a little vague but with practice it can slowly start to make sense. The one thing that I would recommend after passing your exams, especially the MET, is to always keep looking at weather reports each day, and definately before you fly - you will then be able to appreciate them more and learn them better.
Enough of my rumble (I do enough of it in here dont I
)
Thanks all - this is great reading for me also - please keep it coming
Lee