Table of Contents
About Some People xvii
Preface to the Fifth Edition xix
Introduction to the First Edition xxvii
1 Weather Flying 1
2 A Little Theory for Weather Flying 5
That Important Dewpoint 5
How Air Cools 6
Season and Time of Day 8
Terrain 9
Wind 10
Clouds 13
3 Some Thoughts on Checking Weather 17
It Isn't Easy 17
It's Approved and Official 21
How It Works 22
You Are the Meteorologist 25
You Are the Captain! 29
4 Checking Weather and the Big Picture 31
The Big Picture 32
No Surprises 36
Satellites and Some NEXRAD 36
What Do Satellites Show? 37
Valid Old Map Thoughts 41
Where We Find This Computerized Weather 41
Get the Picture First 43
On Days Off, Too 43
A Deeper Look at the Map 44
Watch the Slow Lows 49
The Wind Speed Tells a Story 50
Highs Are Not Always Nice 51
Look Up 52
A Meteorologist's Big Picture from the Web 58
5 Getting That Weather Information 61
Always Learning Where and How 61
Some Extra Sources 63
No One Said It Was Easy 67
Hired Help 68
Opening Remarks to the FSS-and Ourselves 69
Synoptic Again 70
Look Ahead 71
The Real Thing 71
6 Weather Details-What They Tell Us 77
VFR-Not Easy 77
MVFR 78
MVFR Is Not Static 79
IFR-Not to Worry 79
Test the Forecast 80
The Late Weather 80
Regulations Aren't the Important Criteria 81
Pollution and Visibility 82
How Do You Feel? 83
More about Wind 84
Altimeter Setting 85
Temperature and Dewpoint Again 85
PIREPs 85
On the Ground, Too 86
Summing Up 87
7 Checking Weather for the Route 89
Weather Is Mostly Good 90
Something on Fronts 90
Occlusions and Zippers 91
Large-Area Weather 91
The Important Northeast Corner 92
Go the Short Way 94
It Takes Time to Know 95
Why and If 98
Don't Fear Weather… 100
… Or Worry about It 100
8 Equipment Needs for Weather Flying 101
It's Farther Than You Think 101
Fuel and the Law 106
Fuel Again 106
Instruments and Autopilots 107
Where the Instruments Live 109
We Can Keep It Simple 112
A Little More to Do a Lot 113
Things Can Be Better 114
Even Better 115
The Future Will Be Even Better 119
The Protected Airplane 120
Power for Instruments 122
Lighted Well 125
Paperwork and Gadgets Are Equipment, Too 126
Go Fast Slowly 127
Good Housekeeping 128
An Extra Hand 129
Navigation 130
Radar and Lightning Detection Systems 130
9 Temperature, an Important Part of Weather Flying 131
Temperature and Density 131
We Better Figure It Out 132
How Hot, How High? 134
Engines Don't Like It Hot 134
10 Some Psychology of Weather Flying 137
Self-Discipline 138
Think, for Real 139
11 Turbulence and Flying It 141
Kinds of Turbulence 143
How We Fly Turbulence 144
Convective-Layer Turbulence 145
It's Rougher Than You Think 147
Dust Devils 148
Turbulence Near Mountains and Ridges 148
Mountain Waves 150
Turbulence Up High 159
Where Is It? 163
The Tropopause and CAT 164
The Tropopause Is Important 164
Shear 167
Where Is Shear? 169
Thermals 174
12 VFR-Flying Weather Visually 175
VFR 176
The Famous 180
176 A Point to Remember 178
Snow Is Different 179
Keep Calm 180
More Snow 180
Towers 181
VFR Navigation-and the Important Map 181
Not Only Airports 185
Where Is the Wind? 186
Near Cities 187
Summertime 187
Thunderstorms and VFR 188
VFR on Top 189
Using Electronics When VFR 191
Without Radio 192
13 About Keeping Proficient Flying Instruments 195
Practice 200
Self-Checking 204
With Full Instruments 205
14 Thoughts on Flying Technically Advanced Aircraft 209
Single-Pilot Operation in a Two-Pilot World 210
Dependence on Augmented Indications 211
Electronic Seduction 212
Programming Thoughts 216
Summary of Flying Basics in a Technically Advanced World 217
15 Thunderstorms and Flying Them 219
What Are They? 219
What Is Tough about a Thunderstorm? 220
Tornadoes 221
Hail 223
The Bad Part 224
Their Life Cycle 227
A Clue 230
The Different Kinds 230
How High? 231
The Cloud Layers 234
They Grow Fast 234
What's Inside All Those Clouds? 236
What's Outside All Those Clouds? 236
Thunderstorm Detection Systems 237
Airborne Radar 239
NEXRAD 242
Lightning Detection Systems 247
Data-Linked Lightning Mapping Information 252
ATC and Thunderstorms 253
More about Air-Mass Thunderstorms 255
A Cloud Base Hint 255
Other Air-Mass Thunderstorms 256
Dry Climate and Thunderstorms 256
Frontal Thunderstorms 259
The Surface Wind Tells 260
How to Tell a Front's Toughness 260
Prefrontal Squall Lines 260
Some Rules 261
If We Fly Through 261
At Night 263
Where to Bore In 263
How to Fly It 263
Are We Scared? 265
Something to Be Said for Rain 267
Fly! 267
Electrical Discharge 267
Static and Radio 269
The Noise Is Annoying 270
Almost through the Storm 270
Warm Front Thunderstorms 271
Low Down 271
Thunderstorms as We Arrive and Land 272
Don't Race Thunderstorms 273
Missed Approach in Thunderstorms 274
After the Missed Approach and Other Thoughts 274
16 Ice and Flying It 277
About Ice 281
Dealing with Ice 283
The Propeller Is Important 287
Wing Deicers and Anti-Ice 288
Boots 289
Hot Wings 291
Fluid Anti-Icing 291
We Have to See 292
How We Fly Ice 294
Is Your Airplane Equipped to Fly Ice? 296
Propellers, Jet Inlets, and Other Fixtures 297
Ice Flying Starts on the Ground 297
Where We Find Ice 298
Temperature Again 300
Where Are the Tops-and the Bottom? 300
Fronts and Ice 302
An Ice Airplane 303
Not Always in Clouds on Instruments 303
Warm Front 304
Fishing to Get Out of Ice 306
Taking Off in a Front 307
Learning Time 307
Orographic Effect Again 307
Cold Front 308
Flying to Feel Ice 308
Coming Home 310
17 Taking Off in Bad Weather 313
Altimeter Setting 313
Be Prepared 314
Let's Go 314
Radio Thoughts 316
Don't Be Bashful! 318
Off We Go 321
In the Stuff Quick 322
How about the Weather? 323
Once in the Air 324
Thunderstorms Again 324
Thinking 326
18 Weather Flying En Route 329
Think Ahead 330
What's It Like? 331
Forced Landing with Little Time to See 333
All Is Normal and It's Time to Get There 334
19 Landing in Bad Weather 335
Flying the Approach 336
The Instrument Part 336
Close in, Things Get Tight 339
Stick with It 340
When We See Again 342
Autopilots Doing the Work 344
Circling to Land 344
To Touch the Ground 344
Low Visibility 345
Ground Fog 345
On the Ground 346
An Approach Briefing 347
The Toughest Case 348
20 Teaching Yourself to Fly Weather 351
Where's the Emphasis? 351
Learning the Weather 352
21 Something on Judgment 357
Limitations 357
Suggested Reading and Websites 361
Acronyms and Contractions 365
Index 369
