Smoke Gets In Your Sky

The blue of a dry western sky can be breathtaking. But just after winters overcast gives way to clear and deep blue, an insidious menace begins to turn the blue skies white: smoke from the summer fire season. If the national news is covering numerous large western fires, anybody planning a flight in the western U.S. between July and October needs to be prepared to factor smoke into their pre-flight briefings. Check the fire map, or at least glance at the distribution of forest-fire TFRs.

Mike Hart

Monday, August 24, 2015 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Wildfire smoke significantly reduces visibility, often transforming Visual Flight Rules (VFR) conditions into Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) even under clear skies, and can affect vast regions far from the fire source.
Beyond visibility loss and disorientation, smoke plumes pose other serious aviation hazards including severe turbulence, strong downdrafts, heat, and respiratory irritation.
Pilots must actively factor smoke into pre-flight planning by checking fire maps, Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs), and air quality models, as traditional aviation weather tools often neglect smoke, and always be prepared for instrument flight conditions regardless of VFR forecasts.

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The blue of a dry western sky can be breathtaking. But just after winter’s overcast gives way to clear and deep blue, an insidious menace begins to turn the blue skies white: smoke from the summer fire season. If the national news is covering numerous large western fires, anybody planning a flight in the western U.S. between July and October needs to be prepared to factor smoke into their pre-flight briefings. Check the fire map, or at least glance at the distribution of forest-fire TFRs.

While it’s hard to find NTSB reports singling out smoke outside the cockpit as a significant safety factor, my experience seeing the outflow from major fires turn perfectly good VFR flying weather into IMC says otherwise. Sometimes it is a regional phenomena. Other times it is quite localized. No matter what, it always has an impact on my aeronautical decision-making.