Flight to Florida -- The Cure for Winter

"Jay Maynard" wrote in message
...
On 2008-04-01, WJRFlyBoy wrote:
On Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:50:10 -0700 (PDT), Dan wrote:
US Student pilots are required to have 3 hours "under the hood" before
the PPL practical.
Point me to that reg, please.

FAR 61.109(a)(3).

MX strikes again?

What are you lookign at to see what the cloud layers are like on your XM?
I've played around with my 496, and what it's showing me is great...but I
can't visualize what you're looking at to make your decisions.

This is something I'm interested in, since I'm planning a multi-day VFR
trip
bringing the Zodiac home. (And yes, I'm planning to sop in Iowa City.)

You're gonna "sop" here, eh? I'd better get better beer!

;-)

Anyway, being VFR, what we watch specifically is ceilings and visibility
trends along the route of flight. Most states have enough AWOS reporting
stations (that appear as little triangles on the 496) that you can literally
run your cursor over each airport and graphically see ceiling and visibility
reports underneath the "live" (okay, slightly old) weather radar, painted
under the satellite photo.

It's an incredibly powerful tool. If you see an area that (for example) has
marginal VFR -- but good VFR under clear skies beyond -- you know it is safe
to proceed. In the "pre-XM" days, if we ran into a localized area of
marginal VFR we had no idea if conditions were trending worse (or better)
ahead, and would often do a precautionary -- and needless -- landing to
"wait it out".

With weather, a "picture really is worth a thousand words", and it's made
cross-country flying much safer and more relaxing.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Completely. XM weather gives you a weather picture that is absolutely
unparalleled in GA aircraft. Before we had it, we would have stayed in
Pensacola. After we had it, the flight from Pensacola to St. Pete was
completely routine.

Jay, you need some remedial weather analysis and flight planning training.
I've never had XM weather (OK, one flight with a friend with a 496) and
get along fine without it.

I'm glad for that, Matt -- but this is not the conclusion Mary and I have
made.

BTW: Your point about using XM for preflight analysis isn't relevant, since
no one uses it for that. The strength of having live weather on board is
for in-flight decision making, not pre-flight briefings.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"John Smith" wrote ...
....., have you tried to find the lifted-index page on any of the weather
websites recently?


I've found this site terrific for predicting 2-4 day ahead instability. But
you do have to be near one of the listed sites to use the "lifted index"
with any certainty. (is there such a thing in weather?)

http://wxmaps.org/pix/meteograms.html

On Mar 31, 8:37 pm, WJRFlyBoy wrote:
On Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:50:10 -0700 (PDT), Dan wrote:
US Student pilots are required to have 3 hours "under the hood" before
the PPL practical.

Point me to that reg, please.

Nope, do your own research, fakeFlyBoy

Your son didn't go with you? did you make him stay home and tend the
hotel, or did he just take all the family pictures?

Nope, Joe was in Spain for two weeks, hitting on the chicks and supposedly
learning something about the country...

;-)

By all reports, he had a great time. (And he took EIGHTEEN HUNDRED
pictures! Like, one every minute while he was there, for criminy's sake...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Mar 31, 7:36 pm, John Smith wrote:
On Mar 31, 4:13 pm, John Smith wrote:
Dan, have you tried to find the lifted-index page on any of the weather
websites recently?
Dan wrote:
I find this useful:http://adds.aviationweather.gov/convection/java/

Still not as useful as the lifted/k-indexes.

Agreed, but the data exists -- just gotta dig.


Dan Mc

On Mar 31, 8:18 pm, buttman wrote:
On Mar 30, 8:01 pm, Dan wrote:



I guess it's here -- a whole generation of pilots following magenta
lines

Whats the difference between following a magenta line on a GPS screen,
as opposed to a white needle on a CDI or a yellow needle on a HSI?

who will now be looking to fly through green and avoid the red
and yellow.

So, without onboard weather, you're not trying to avoid red and yellow
weather spots? Before XM weather and the kind, you had to tediously
transcribe information from airborne FSS weather breifings, HIWAS,
etc. onto a map or your head or whatever to determine where adverse
weather was. Now all the busy work is removed, so all you have to do
is look at the screen and it's all there. The flying is all the same.
Your weather avoidance piloting techniques are exactly the same. It's
just that information you use comes to you more efficiently.

I hope to God and the FAA you are not really a CFI...

For the sake of anyone unlucky enough to share a cockpit with you.


Dan Mc

On Mar 31, 8:41 pm, WJRFlyBoy wrote:
On Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:03:44 -0700 (PDT), Dan wrote:
I *design* new technologies for the US Navy in my current
engineering job.

Really? Such as and working for whom?

None of your damn business, fake fly boy.

On Mar 31, 9:35 pm, "Matt W. Barrow"
wrote:

MX strikes again?

You got it.