Preflight Briefings

Be aware of the distinction between MSL and AGL. Cloud heights associated with airports are customarily given in AGL. But areal guidance products, area forecasts, and PIREPs, use MSL. Also, anything stated as a ceiling or carrying the CIG abbreviation is AGL. Since IFR and MVFR conditions are based upon ceiling height, centralized products will always use AGL ceilings when constructing an IFR/MVFR depiction. If there is any doubt, find the information ahead of time or talk to a briefer.

Tim Vasquez

Monday, November 19, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

General aviation weather accidents are a significant safety concern, contributing to 35% of all fatal GA accidents, frequently stemming from VFR flight into IMC due to factors like low ceilings, fog, and poor situational awareness.
A comprehensive preflight weather briefing is essential, requiring pilots to build a full mental picture of the route's weather using detailed sources (TAFs, MOS data, NWS Aviation Discussions) to anticipate and mitigate specific hazards such as icing, mountain obscuration, and unexpected wind shifts.
Despite advancements, weather forecasting has inherent complexities and limitations, underscoring the critical need for pilots to continuously deepen their meteorological knowledge, experience, and situational awareness to proactively manage evolving weather risks and prevent being caught unprepared.

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Meteorologists Andrew Fultz and Walker Ashley in 2016 undertook a comprehensive review of NTSB data and published their findings in Physical Geography. The researchers looked at almost 60,000 general aviation accidents between 1982 and 2013. They identified 25 percent of the accidents as weather-related. Out of those accidents, 26 percent were fatal. One sobering finding was that 35 percent of all fatal GA accidents are due to weather.

The 31-year period saw 3972 accidents and 8052 lives lost in GA weather accidents. In 1982 things were grim, with an average of three crashes and two fatalities per day from weather. Through efforts of flight instructors, meteorologists, the FAA, and the NTSB, we’ve seen a fourfold drop in these numbers, but still with over 200 weather accidents each year, there’s much work to be done.