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Airborne Weather Sensors

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) and strategic weather tools like Nexrad provide delayed information, making them unreliable for real-time tactical thunderstorm avoidance.
  • Airborne weather radar is the primary tactical tool for close-range storm detection, requiring pilot proficiency in managing its settings (e.g., antenna tilt) for effective use.
  • Sferic devices offer real-time lightning detection for strategic planning but have limitations in accurately depicting storm intensity or precipitation.
  • Ultimately, the best thunderstorm avoidance strategy involves staying in visual meteorological conditions (VMC) and using one's eyes, as Air Traffic Control (ATC) only provides deviation clearances, not tactical weather navigation.
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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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