How to decode some info in METAR
Agree with Denti and wiggy. Flying has many acronyms and abbreviations, as well as the NATO alphabet and morse code to learn. Welcome to the fascinating world of aviation!
The weather format is actually very easy to read and assimilate once you have had a little practice and experience. Don't use an App to decode because that way you will never learn the code.
The format is also very compact. If you are writing down weather from VOLMET or ATIS, it is a very convenient shorthand to use.
If you are flying a long distance or transocean you could have many airfields to check, and ETOPS alternates for example. As wiggy says, if these were written in plain English, it would take up many pages and take a long time to read through in the pre-flight briefing room.
Learn and use the code and enjoy - it is very simple, quick and easy once you know.
The weather format is actually very easy to read and assimilate once you have had a little practice and experience. Don't use an App to decode because that way you will never learn the code.
The format is also very compact. If you are writing down weather from VOLMET or ATIS, it is a very convenient shorthand to use.
If you are flying a long distance or transocean you could have many airfields to check, and ETOPS alternates for example. As wiggy says, if these were written in plain English, it would take up many pages and take a long time to read through in the pre-flight briefing room.
Learn and use the code and enjoy - it is very simple, quick and easy once you know.
Nick1 thanks for that decode, the 1037 could have been a local time as it was late morning but I would expect a classifier for time such as L or U.
MOTNE is another tricky one, which I only used to need for three months of the year and of course forgot it each year and had to re-learn. It is like learning a new language, if you don't use it you forget it.
MOTNE is another tricky one, which I only used to need for three months of the year and of course forgot it each year and had to re-learn. It is like learning a new language, if you don't use it you forget it.
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For MOTNE serch for an app called Snowtam image with an ice cristal , the best decoder for snotam/motne a saw so far, with a dedicated part for Russia operation ..
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Well, with the introduction of the GRF (Global Reporting Format) the former format of MOTNE is irrelevant now (well, at the end of the month), and the new one is, in my view a bit easier to use. That said, i did use the Snowtam app as well sometimes, MOTNE was just a headache.
And yes, i have to agree with wiggy NOTAMs do really need to be improved. Especially now with those novel length NOTAMs about Covid-19 restrictions and around 25 new cranes around each airport being reported completely unusable for most of us.
And yes, i have to agree with wiggy NOTAMs do really need to be improved. Especially now with those novel length NOTAMs about Covid-19 restrictions and around 25 new cranes around each airport being reported completely unusable for most of us.
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Pan Am tried to make gentlemen pilots, National tried to make pilots gentlemen. Both failed. The world's two most dangerous things: National pilots on a simulator check and Pan Am pilots on a visual approach.
The Pan Am pilots could always find some paragraph in the manual but the National pilots were better at finding the runway from what I could see. Anyway, I was hired after the 'merger' and tried to learn from both groups.
The aircraft I was on had mostly captains from National due to an arbitration award with equipment fences to merge the seniority lists 'equitably'.
They had never flown much internationally other than Miami to Nassau and studying a book was considered cheating. So, they used the 'one finger rule' to read the international weather: put your finger over the weather. If there is still writing below your finger, the weather is bad Airbubba!
