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Note: To allow for pilots flying in Saturday morning, class will start promptly at 10 am on Saturday and end before 5 pm on Saturday. Class will resume promptly at 8:30 am on Sunday and finish about 2 pm on Sunday to allow pilots to fly out before sunset. These times are subject to change. A confirmation e-mail will be sent to you a couple days prior to the seminar that will identify any changes to this schedule. Lunches will be provided on Saturday and Sunday around noon each day. Breakfast will not be provided either day. Weather Or Not
Saturday Weather or Not introduction and welcome Pilots will be welcomed with a brief overview of the planned weekend activities. A brief summary of each topic will be highlighted and what the student will learn in each of the four seminar segments. Numerical Weather Prediction In this segment the student will be introduced to four numerical weather prediction models (Eta, NGM, GFS, and RUC). The characteristics of each of these model will be briefly described along with the importance of why a pilot should care about numerical weather prediction. All forecasts available today are based on the output of weather forecasting models. Pilots can utilize model output to identify the location of adverse weather two or three days in advance. With a detailed knowledge of the adverse weather a pilot might face, scheduling can be done effectively to avoid pressures with a last minute go/no decision. As a result, the student will learn how to read both the 1000-500 mb thickness mean sea level (MSL) pressure and 500 mb constant pressure charts that are produced by forecasting models. Related topics will be discussed:
Ground-based Radar In the second segment, we will discuss a weather product that is very familiar to most pilots, namely NEXRAD. NEXRAD has a high glance value and is a product widely used by most general aviation pilots. NEXRAD is now making its way into the cockpit through panel-mounted systems or through portable products such as Anywhere Wx and WxWorx. However, very few pilots really understand the product and how to interpret it in the context of their flight. The following related topics will be discussed:
Sunday Parcel Theory In the third segment, the concept of parcel theory and thermodynamic diagrams will be explored. Radiosondes are launched twice daily; temperature and dew point temperature are plotted as a function of altitude on thermodynamic diagrams such at the Skew-T Log P chart. Moreover, forecasting models also can produce hourly forecast data that can be plotted on this diagram. The student will be give an exercise to plot temperature and dew point temperature on this thermodynamic chart. Additionally, the student will be asked to find the cloud bases. The following related topics will be discussed:
Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs) In the fourth segment, we will dissect the terminal forecast. Meteorologists at the local weather forecast offices (WFOs) understand the impact their forecast has on aviation operations including safety. The student will be given a behind the scenes view of how a meteorologist constructs and amends this difficult "point" forecast. The following related topics will be discussed:
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