Winds aloft charts have long been a staple of flight planning, if at least just to figure wind correction angles and groundspeed. But in Wx Smarts, we try to help you more fully exploit weather products to think more like a forecaster than a person just checking off boxes during preflight.
Even a mundane winds-aloft chart offers tremendous insights, and the principles we’ll lay out here are not only useful, but essential in data-sparse areas like over the ocean. We’ll show you how to get a feel for the chart and get a deeper understanding of the weather patterns at play along your route and how weather systems are organized. The more understanding you have, the safer the flight—every little bit of insight helps.
