Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
By Ibra
#1788020
Morten wrote:
Ibra wrote:This one looks like high altitude convective weather build up not frontal one, you will be flying under their level anyway, so losing sight of the ground is not an issue, but always keep bits of blue sky above and plan the route around them :thumleft: )


Good point. For those who dont know the Gramet site, its well worth getting to know.
From here: https://www.ogimet.com/gramet_aero.phtml.en.
You input the details of your flight- it doesn't recognise small strips, but use the closest large airports - and the flight times offset from the time of the GFS model run used as a base and it will give a graph along these lines:

Image

In this run, I've pretended to fly from Lydd to Plymouth over 72 hours from midday today (ie very slowly...), so this gives a rough idea of the weather on the south coast for the weekend.
You can see that today, it shows some TC in the early evening but with bases around 12k or so, whereas on Sunday, there are likely to be (i) more TCs and (ii) lower down with bases around 3k or so.
It will also give you temperature profiles, wind conditions etc along your route.

It takes a bit of practice to read the location/time but used a bit creatively there is a lot of info which can be gleaned from it.



I flew along that line of TS/CBs on Friday at 4pm from North Weald, LeTouquet to LeBaule (we end up landing at StNazaire du to low clouds & getting dark for LaBaule), the biggest patch was mainly over land in France but really high altitude build up: the base was about 8000ft and the tops were 20deg above the horizon from 20nm (FL300?) as we went to L2K, the ride over the channel was smooth & hazy (hot & pollution?) and over land bumpy, not a single strike in stormscope (I hope it was working and ON :lol: ) but we could see few isolated heavy shower deep in land on iPad and for real when visibility did improve
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By James Chan
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1788202
I wouldn’t count on out running a heavy storm they can move faster than you think


Perhaps I have been lucky then - my PPL cross-country flight involved flying 'through' lines of CBs where there were clear gaps and blue skies in-between them. I saw they were fast to balloon upwards, but not across (I was cruising at 110kts).

But if it was gray/embedded/frontal then I wouldn't have done the same.
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1788221
My only successful Stansted zone transit (I don't usually bother to ask ) was when I was picking our a/c up from Annual at N Weald, I found my route home in a north-easterly direction was blocked by a solid wall of CBs:

They initially refused transit but when I wheedled and grovelled they grudgingly let me though after a couple of orbits OCAS (Well I was asking to fly along, not across, their runway so I guess they had to wait for a gap.)

Peter :roll:
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By Iceman
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1788238
When flying with rain and CB/TS, situations can be very dynamic. I have Golze satellite weather radar / strikes and a traditional storm scope in the TB and can monitor the whole route as the situation changes, and plan tactically as a result, diverting early or changing route as the situation develops. I wouldn’t leave home without this extra situational awareness. A very zoomed out view from the Golze with the weather as it was a few minutes ago is shown below.

Image

Iceman 8)
By Ibra
#1788245
Miscellaneous wrote:Surely the greater worry than out running them is more developing around, behind, closer to you?


Completely agree, one can always try on a simulator throw few random dynamic & fast evolving cell patch and play inside at 100kts, 9 out of 10 you will hit the jackpot, it has nothing to do with "weather/radar data" or pilot skills, just the lack of speed, fast jets do 400kts in tactical penetration and they still get wet sometimes, in slow GA one should always stay to one side: left or right and if they feel brave enough to go inside or shoot the line gap, plan seriously for a precautionary landing while visual, it does not have to be the 4km ILS airport (it will be closed anyway even for A380s and ATC tend not to reply to RT calls when it is clear on the ATIS that you will lose your skin going there :lol: except in the US where they have weather &traffic radar overlay and they ask you if you are radar equipped to give it a go), in SEPs we have the luxury that any long grass strip should do, in addition showers and sunshine make a nice show from the ground 8)

To maintain 20nm from random dynamic cells that pop up/down in 10min, you need 240kts cruise, now imagine someone in IMC with 15min weather data link delay and 100kts cruise :eye:

I find it funny when some people talk about tactical penetrating of frontal TS in IMC because they bought sophisticated 81k$ hardware (50k$ TKS/anti-ice, 30k$ weather radar, 10k$ stormscope, 1k$ datalink) but they are still stuck with 120kts speed on their yellow arc...
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By Gertie
#1788292
Ibra wrote:... now imagine someone in IMC with 15min weather data link delay ...

I have had a controller call out the locations of the thunderstorms to me, presumably from his own radar.
By Ibra
#1788297
Gertie wrote:
Ibra wrote:... now imagine someone in IMC with 15min weather data link delay ...

I have had a controller call out the locations of the thunderstorms to me, presumably from his own radar.


I imagine that was USAF Lakenheath or RAF guys, they tend to interpret heavy rain or flocks of birds returns on their primary radars and they will advise or vector away? or was it a civvy ATC unit with their own Doppler radar feeds? other pilot visual reports? or MetOffice data?

If the latter then surely in range of one of these :thumleft:
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/services/b ... feguarding
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By Gertie
#1788384
Ibra wrote:
Gertie wrote:I have had a controller call out the locations of the thunderstorms to me, presumably from his own radar.


I imagine that was ...

Norwich.

He was doing more than looking out of the tower window because he told he I'd have another 18 miles to go to outrun the line of CBs.
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