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Checking the Weather Is More Than Looking Out the Window

Learning how to access weather reports and interpret them is a foundational lesson.

While looking up at the sky comprised a weather briefing during the golden age of aviation, it just doesn't cut it now. [File photo: iStock]
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Correctly obtaining and interpreting thorough weather briefings is critical for aviation safety and making go/no-go decisions, a skill often neglected after initial pilot certification.
  • Pilots should use FAA-approved, recorded weather briefing sources and understand specific metrics (e.g., ceilings, visibility, winds, NOTAMs) rather than relying on casual observation.
  • Thorough weather checks are essential for mitigating legal liability for flight schools and pilots, preventing accidents, and ensuring preparedness for rapidly changing or severe weather conditions.
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“Have you checked the weather?”

My fellow instructors, how many times have you asked this question? How many times has someone asked you that? The ability to access weather information and more importantly, correctly interpret it, is critical to the aviation process. Without this skill, the ability to make a go/no-go decision becomes suspect at best. Sadly, the task of obtaining a weather briefing and the ability to interpret the briefing is one of those skills that often wanes dramatically after the acquisition of a private pilot certificate because so many pilots ‘only fly on nice days’.

Meg Godlewski

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.

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