Monitoring Weather

Source: www.pilotworkshop.com
Featuring Bob Nardiello

Mark:

"Bob, once you're enroute, what do you use to monitor weather?"

Bob:

"After departure in the first leg of this trip, the most useful piece of equipment on board is our Garmin 396/496, which has the capability to download via satellite, datalink weather. This datalink weather offers us the opportunity to review METARs, TAFs, winds aloft, Nexrad radar as well as a number of other weather products. This information is downloaded on a schedule to the Garmin 396/496 and although it is not instantaneous, it is relatively current and will give us the kind of information that we need to monitor the progress of the front as it marches eastbound."

Mark:

"If you're aircraft doesn't carry that type of equipment, what would you suggest?"

Bob:

"Flight Watch is always available - 122.0 - and you might want to monitor Flight Watch on your second radio. Keep it on low in the background and you might pick up some nuggets in terms of weather along your route.

You can specifically request weather from Flight Watch as well.

You might also want to think about tuning in an ATIS that's out in front of you somewhere in the route, but within range. Get an idea of what the weather is, perhaps 50 miles ahead of you just to confirm that it is, in fact, good or is, in fact, bad or consistent with your weather analysis before you departed."