How harmful is Wx radar?
In our company SOP it says that, during taxi out, the Wx radar can be switched on when needed.
In reality this becomes a standard item during taxi, whereby almost everybody switches the radar on regardless of people, airplanes, vehicules, fuel tanks in front of them.
My question to you:
1) Wx radar is harmfull for human beings. What is the danger zone? 1m/5m/50m?
2) How bad is it to switch on the Wx radar when you have a large metal object (ie plane or fuel tank) in front of you? Can this damage the Wx radar itself?
3) What do most other companies do? Switch Wx radar on during taxi or when lining up?
4) Do the military still use civil wx radar beams to identify civilian traffic in sensititive zones (gulf region, Iran,...)
Thanks