Flying With XM WX

Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

XM Weather products provided by WxWorx (displayed here on a Garmin G1000) give pilots all the graphic and text information they need to strategically conduct a flight that will avoid the worst of the weather.

Key Takeaways:

XM WX Satellite Weather (XM Weather) provides affordable, comprehensive in-flight weather data, primarily through its Nexrad radar mosaic, making sophisticated weather information accessible to general aviation pilots.
Its main advantage is offering a dynamic, continuously updated "big picture" view of precipitation and storms, which is crucial for real-time decision-making to avoid hazardous convective weather during flight.
Despite its benefits, XM Weather is not a substitute for pilot judgment; it requires careful interpretation, conservative use, and understanding of its limitations (e.g., data latency, specific lightning data) to enhance flight safety.

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The official name is XM WX Satellite Weather. Most pilots just call it XM Weather. The neat thing about it is that it offers virtually all available weather information and can be received and displayed on handheld units or on a variety of panel-mount units. There is an instrument panel docking station system available for the Garmin 396 and 496 handhelds that eliminates many of thewires that adorn the cockpit when these are used as a pure handheld, or mounted on the control column. Some of the panel-mount units don’t yet have the capacity to display all the information that XM broadcasts.

Another neat thing is that a popular Control Vision PDA-based unit with a moving map and XM Weather display sells for $1,495. A Garmin 396 is advertised for $2,195 and a 496 for $2,795. Any serious pilot, whether renting, flying club airplanes or owning an airplane, can now have the same in-flight weather information that is available to those flying the most sophisticated turbine airplanes, and for not a lot of money. This includes GPS navigation, even WAAS in some cases. And it is an easy and sure bet that more pilots will fly into this thunderstorm season with Nexrad displayed in the cockpit than ever before. Those Garmin units literally flew off the shelves last Christmas.