Inflight Weather Briefings

Wednesday, August 23, 2023 at 10:09 AM ET

Verified

Some electronic flight bags, like ForeFlight, shown, can color-code the weather at nearby airports with official observations. This screenshot shows Monterey and other coastal stations are reporting IFR (red) while Salinas (blue) and Hollister (green) have at least MVFR.

Key Takeaways:

Modern in-cockpit weather systems like ADS-B provide significantly more data, improving pilots' ability to make informed decisions about weather en route and for diversions.
Despite advancements, these systems have limitations including potential equipment connectivity issues, data latency (e.g., Nexrad up to 20 minutes delayed), and occasional data discrepancies or outages.
Pilots must still apply fundamental aviation knowledge to interpret the available data, understand its limitations, and always prioritize visual observation by looking out the window for weather and traffic.

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(Editor’s Note: This is the second contribution to a multi-part series on going beyond the standard preflight weather briefing to find the details underlying what our EFBs tell us. Look for subsequent installments in future issues.)

The forecast for Monterey, California (KMRY), advertised clear weather for the whole day. This didn’t make any sense, because the airport is right next to Monterey Bay and the ILS approach starts out over the Pacific Ocean. I was visiting pilot friends, and we all looked at the forecast together, agreeing that it was strange. But the forecast said clear and with no alternate required, I didn’t file one.