Originally Posted by
Sqwak7700
Wtf? 100 nm? Yeah, no. Never heard of that one. Never in over 20 years flying tubes have I heard anyone diverting 100nm around weather.
Indeed, I used to live in Fiji and that's more than the width of the main island! And for sure while a storm was raging on one side, it'd be heavy blue skies on the other half.
Weather avoidance is something that fascinates me, partly because turbulence turns me from a lover of flight to borderline panic attacks, and partly from a lifelong interest in meteorology. And I seem to read so many different mentalities regarding it. Personally I'd prefer the pilot stayed as far away as possible because any turbulence does cause a lot of fear at the back, and I feel if you're transporting passengers you shouldn't enter areas you're not comfortable with.
Sorry if this isba little off topic, but I'd be interested to hear your general strategies? And how much are you considering the commercial side i.e. do you fly in areas you'd rather not if the deviation would be 'too far'? And what is too far? Personally I'm inclined to think paying passengers have a right to think the pilot should be free to take all avoidance he deems necessary. Do you feel some colleagues are 'too brave'?
I also occasionally read here about poor radar technique being common, but I tell myself it can't be that bad or we'd be seeing a lot of incidents in SE Asia with the number of flights dodging around the monsters down there!