New F215.....

[BEagle]

The new 'printable' version of the F215 (which is now a .pdf) from the UK Met Office aviation website does not give any surface pressure indications. Even the normal F215 only gives a very small (admittedly quite pretty) thumbnail chart with different orientation and coverage compared to the forecast weather chart. If you try to print it out to a reasonable size, it devours most of the ink in your printer and takes forever.....

Why?

The dumbing down of weather information is bad enough on the BBC, but why on earth are aviators having to suffer in this way? Personally I haven't seen much improvement in forecast quality over the recent years; hence it would be nice just to have a decent UK surface pressure chart (as we had until earlier this week) from which to make our own deductions.

[Say again s l o w l y]

Looks OK apart from the missing isobars. Why have they removed them?

Actually, I don't like the way the cloud is represented. The old method needed no interpretation and was easily understood by all. Anything that needs a key on it, isn't as simple as it should be.....

Finally, where's the "Print version" gone for the winds?

[BEagle]

For the F214, just click 'print', but choose page 2 only, to avoid wasting a whole piece of A4 on the Met Office logo...

The old 'printable version' was much simpler!

The person at the Met Office I spoke to tonight was eager to slope shoulders and pass the buck to the CAA.....

These changes mean that what was once a fairly simple operation has now become a nightmare of 'save as', 'resize image' etc. Why don't these idiots try out their clever new ideas at point of delivery before inflicting them on us?

[Dude~]

Not sure I like the new format but I guess we will have to get used to it.
I will miss being able to see the isobars and fronts at a glance though.
Its still got a way to go before its quite as bad a the beeb wx!

[DFC]

The old chart covering the forecast period did not have isobars so what has changed?

Yes there was an outlook chart with isobars for some time well after the end of the period covered by the forecast but that kind of info was much better obtained from the surface actual and forecast charts available from the metoffice or many other places on the internet.

The wind chart has not changed whic is a pitty because while the period of the F215 nicely covers many private pilot's flying days, the F214 still do not!

All seems to print OK for me.

Is having the cloud amount described as few, sct etc a problem? How does one read METAR and TAFs then?

The only issue I have is the fact that some more work is required to get a general idea of the freezing level in various areas.

Gald they are finally using ICAO symbols. It will make it easier for UK ppls flying abroad sudenly confronted by all those symbols.

Regards,

DFC

[Han 1st Solo]

Hi all.

This having to only print page 2 bollocks is so infuriating, why can't they design something sensible that prints correctly without any hassle. Although I prefer the met office format its avbrief all the way for me now.

[DFC]

Hi all.

This having to only print page 2 bollocks is so infuriating, why can't they design something sensible that prints correctly without any hassle. Although I prefer the met office format its avbrief all the way for me now.

What are you talking about?

The printable version of both F214 and F215 is one page each.

Are you sure that you have not got a problem at your end such as wrong papersize defined or incorrect orientation or some other problem?

For the F215 when you have the PDF open ensure that if you are printing it the small pre-view version includes all the picture. If not then ensure that the print options are set to adjust the size to fit your printer's paper size.

For the F214 - nothing has changed it has been 1 page for a long time now.

Hope that helps.

Regards,

DFC

[BEagle]

Printable F214 is now back.

Possibly a temporary glitch.

[scubawasp]

I prefer the old F215, whatever happened to "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach?

[Send Clowns]

The new 215 is much harder to understand, takes a lot longer to assimilate the information I need to know to be able to say "I should be out of icing and turbulence at FLXX and I am likely to be able to find an alternate somewhere" then pass on to the TAFs/METARs to find where. That is what I need to know quickly so i can get off the ground for the customer.

Well said, Scubawasp.

P.S If printable version is not available and you are using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer the right click the picture and choose "view image". Then print - simple!

[scubawasp]

So, when are the CAA going to update the Met exams?

[Benix]

agree with what DFC said about the freezing levels, what a load of rubbish, telling me that is somewhere between 1000 and 3000ft isnt really good enough imho. Bring back the old one :{

[BEagle]

I hope that you will all contact the Met Office feedback at: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/avi01.html with your comments...

Looking back at an old exam paper, I note how easy it was to correlate the surface pressure 'outlook' chart with the significant weather chart. This is now virtually impossible as the tiny little image provided covers Iceland to Ibiza....and is orientated at about 325 deg over the UK instead of True North at the Greenwhich Meridian.

Let's have a surface pressure chart for the same period as the significant weather chart - to the same scale, size and orientation. And make it printable - it does NOT need to be in full colour!

[mark147]

The wind chart has not changed whic is a pitty because while the period of the F215 nicely covers many private pilot's flying days, the F214 still do not!The 214 itself still looks the same but the time periods have changed. Instead of 0600-1200/1200-1800 it's now 0900-1500 UTC which is much better.
Mark