PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Met Office Weather Forecast? Hmmmmmmm....
Old 21st Jun 2008, 22:49
  #70 (permalink)  
robin
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Not a million miles from EGTF
Age: 68
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Lets just be clear here

Some people (and I'm one) are weather nerds. We look up weather forecasts from a host of sources, watch the way that weather moves and changes and plan our flying on the basis of forecasts, local knowledge etc etc

Most pilots, especially low-time under-confident types, have little interest in weather and will cancel a local flight if a cloud appears in a clear-blue sky.

Some of us have gone to CAA safety evenings and have had the sh*t scared out of us by stories of CFIT.

Now it is all very well experts telling us that gusts of less than 10kts aren't recorded, or some of the dark secrets of TAFs and their validities.

The reality is that most pilots look at last night's or this morning's BBC forecast (supplied dreckly from the Met Office) and could not interpret a TAF, METAR, Form 215 etc etc if their lives depended on it - and it does!

Personally I despair at the lack of knowledge of experienced pilots in my group when it comes to the nuances of weather interpretation.

However, the general perception - and that is what counts - is that the forecasts have become less reliable in recent years, and we have sufficient evidence to justify that view.

Given that my friends fly from a small airfield 2 miles from the Met Office building, it is a regular complaint when reading the METARS - 'why don't they open a bl**dy window???'
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