Meteorology
 

Met is the next PPL exam on the list, so I've spent the past few evenings reading through the second half of Thom's book 2. After doing the Confuser questions I'm sure that I know enough pass the exam, but I don't feel that I understand the subject as well as I'd like to. In fact, I barely understand it at all.

Can anyone recommend a good book that goes into a bit more depth without going over the top? I'm never going to be anything other than a PPL+IMC pilot, so I'm not after a university textbook or ATPL-level guide - just something that goes a bit further than Thom's 107 pages.

Cheers! <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

Make it real! The theory is fine, but LOOK at the weather and compare the Bracknell and USAF charts from: <a href="http://www.phd.nl/aviation/wx/" target="_blank">http://www.phd.nl/aviation/wx/</a> and see what is really happening out there. Once you've done this for a while, you can become your own forecaster!!

DOC

The other thing I did was to keep printing off the MetOffice reports at

<a href="http://www.met-office.gov.uk/aviation/" target="_blank">http://www.met-office.gov.uk/aviation/</a>

to see if I could make sense of them. When I could read them instinctively, I felt more comfortable taking the exam (not that I did all that well at it, but a pass is a pass!)

You have to register to get access, but it is worthwhile. By midnight, you can usually tell if you are going to fly tomorrow morning.

One word of warning, though, if you use the Met Office web site for real. My browser keeps recalling old pages when I access a page, so if I don't remember to check the date carefully and press "refresh", I can spend a while planning based on the weather five days ago. Then I am surprised when I look out of the window.

CAVOK

Evo7 - how about a video ? I see a few of the Flying kit suppliers advertise a 'Met for the PPL' video (may not be the exact title). Haven't seen it myself.

CAVOK - have you tried fiddling with you browser settings ? You can force Internet Explorer to always check for updates. Drop me an e-mail if you need more info.

Cheers

-S

Dunno if you consider this to be a bit over the top for what you need, but I was given an excellent book called "Meteorology for Pilots" by KM Wickson, published by Airlife, England. I understand it's a bit pricey, but it's a really good reference. Good luck!

Dunno if this will help but you could try getting some nautical met textbooks (avilible from Yacht Chandlers) they contain a lot more detail than is found in the Thom book and a lot of it is transferable to flying - weather is weather. Many moons ago when I was a youg sea-gerkin I did the Yachmaster offshore/ocean course and a large part of the met bit involed self forcasting - on first impressions a bit dry (no pun) but when you get in to it a lot of fun (blimey that sounds a bit sad). As has been mentioned above use the mark one eyeball and look out the window and compare with the forecast - you'll soon see patterns developing

Evo7,

Best of luck, I'm taking my Met exam on the 12th of next month. Let us know how you get on.

have a look at the University of Illinois met theory website

<a href="http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/Gh/guides/mtr/home.rxml" target="_blank">http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/Gh/guides/mtr /home.rxml</a>

in the URL, add a bracket before and after "Gh" (pprune won't allow you to post links which contain parentheses)

As for books: "Pilot's Weather", written by, er, some bloke, is lezz zizzy than Thom.

Also, rifle through old copies of "Flyer" to read Irv's articles on weather (hey Irv and Ian: any chance of publishing them together in a small book?)

[ 14 February 2002: Message edited by: FNG ]</p>

I had a similar problem. Found it very helpful to look at real weather. Here's what I used to do, every day:

Wake up, look out the window. Decide what kind of cloud I'm looking at (needed to cross-check with the pics in Thom at first, but not after a while) and what kind of whether is usually associated with that cloud. Then, log on to the Met Office website and look at the 3-day surface pressure animation - try to figure out what the weather trend is. Then come up with my own forecast. Finally, compare to the met office forecast. Of course, you won't get it right every time, because you're working with much less information than the professional forecasters have to work with, but it's the process that you'll benefit from, not the result!

FFF. .----------

I find <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0713642262/qid%3D1013689684/026-0807173-1585228" target="_blank">Tom Bradbury's Meteorology and Flight</a> excellent.

[ 14 February 2002: Message edited by: bookworm ]</p>

Thanks chaps - good advice as always. I've started playing "spot that cloud" and trying to make my own forcasts from TAF/METAR's and the surface charts. I'm rubbish at it - I'm never going to moan about John Kettley again <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> - but it's helping me a lot. I think the problem wasn't so much a lack of understanding as an inability to apply the contents of the book to the real world.

Irv Lee e-mailed me a pointer to his Weatherwatch articles from Flyer, available on his <a href="http://www.higherplane.flyer.co.uk" target="_blank">. .website</a>. Highly recommended if, like me, you haven't seen them before.

Finally, one further question. I've been reading METAR's at the <a href="http://www.met-office.gov.uk/aviation/" target="_blank">Met Office</a> website, and have noticed that some entries contain a code I don't recognise (and Thom doesn't explain):

[quote]. .BOSCOMBE DOWN EGDM 15/0750 150750Z 35007KT CAVOK M02/M03 Q1034 BLU NOSIG= . .&lt;snip&gt;. .BRIZE NORTON EGVN 15/0750 150750Z 33005KT CAVOK M00/M02 Q1034 BLU NOSIG= . .<hr></blockquote>

This only seems to appear at military airfields (I think) - e.g. Culdrose & Yeovilton have them too, but Heathrow and Gatwick don't. Yesterday one of them had WHT, so it sounds like it may be some sort of colour code? Maybe? However, I can't find any reference to what they mean? Any ideas?

They are military colour codes used as shorthand indications of basic met conditions at the field

The information given by a colour code is:-

Surface vis: RN km (RAF nm) [USAF km/statute mile] - base of lowest cloud layer of 3/8 (sct) or more.

Blue 8.0 (4.3) [8.0/5.0] - 2,500 ft agl . .White 5.0 (2.7) [5.0/3.0] - 1,500 ft agl . .Green 3.7 (2.0) [ 3.7/2.3] - 700 ft agl . .Yellow 1.6 (0.9) [1.6/1.0] - 300 ft agl . .Amber 0.8 (0.4) [ 0.8/0.5] - 200 ft agl . .Red Less than Amber vis - below 200 ft or sky obscured . .Black (+ colour) = field not usable for other reasons.

Cheers, FNG!

Be a little careful with the confuser, it contains a couple of mistakes. (the VOLMET one, and the "Which runway into wind" one. Good luck

"Pilot's Weather - a commonsense approach to meteorology" is by Brian Cosgrove. The text is very good but the highlight is that it contains many excellent photos of different cloud types.

Evo7 - Military Colour codes - Useful grafik in the articles you already mentioned.. .<a href="http://www.flyer.co.uk/weather/weatherw8.php" target="_blank">http://www.flyer.co.uk/weather/weatherw8.php</a>

Cheers, Flying I. As you might guess, I've only made it as far as number 5... <img src="redface.gif" border="0"> <img src="rolleyes.gif" border="0">

[ 18 February 2002: Message edited by: Evo7 ]</p>

EVO7

I recommend 'Met for PPL' video by David Prior. Check your email Evo7.

I don't know it would be available in the UK, but I'm partial to Canada's Air Command Weather Manual. It has lots of information that's easy to read and understand. Quite comprehensive.

Many thanks, ACARS. Check your mail!