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Airborne Weather Sensors

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • EFBs and Nexrad provide strategic weather information, but their significant data lag (often 20+ minutes) makes them unsuitable for real-time, tactical thunderstorm avoidance.
  • Airborne weather radar is the only truly tactical weather detection tool for immediate storm avoidance, though it is heavy, power-intensive, requires formal training, and is typically limited to larger aircraft.
  • Sferic (lightning detection) devices offer real-time data but are still strategic due to limitations in depicting all turbulent weather.
  • Ultimately, a pilot's eyes and staying in visual flight rules (VFR) conditions are the best thunderstorm avoidance tools, supplemented by all available strategic and tactical weather resources.
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(Editor’s Note: This is the final contribution to a three-part series on going beyond the standard preflight weather briefing on your EFB.)

The contemporary electronic flight bag (EFB) is truly a “how did we ever live without this?” kind of tool. It can put just about any text or imagery on its display at the tap of an icon, tell us where to look for traffic and display the observations from ground-based Nexrad weather radar sites. One thing an EFB can’t do, though, is respond to questions you may have about your briefing.

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