Aviation Weather Safety

General aviation weather safety is nothing to take lightly. Our pilot weather articles are designed to help you maintain your skills for flying in tough conditions and improve your overall aviation safety.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011 Winter Flying Tips Twenty Things You Can Do To Stay Safe and Have Fun Winter is as inevitable as aging, and for pilots who live in or fly to the northern latitudes, every winter will present significant challenges.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010 Beware The Downburst An insidious risk that can undercut airspeed and drive you into the ground Contrary to the advice that aviation usually allows you to make most mistakes only once, I’ve been fortunate in 50 years of flying to make virtually all the bad mistakes, in some cases more than once.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010 The Box Is Yours Competition aerobatics can make you a more precise and confident pilot I was circling at 4,500 feet in the designated contest holding area for the Borrego Springs Akrofest while another competitor finished his routine in the aerobatic box.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010 Managing Risk: VFR Versus VMC Are you prepared for when the weather deteriorates? It has been a long day on a long cross-country flight. The weather forecasts have not been very accurate—you’re reminded of a quote from an anonymous wag: "Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers."

Tuesday, June 8, 2010 Dealing With Convective Weather Some pilots simply lock their airplanes in the hangar when convective weather is about. Others learn to cope. Shortly after returning from a recent Grand Caravan delivery from Long Beach, Calif., to Seoul, Korea, I spoke at a LoPresti First Saturday event in Sebastian, Fla.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 The Myth (Almost) Of Tailwinds Logic suggests you should have tailwinds roughly 50% of the time. Logic is wrong. It was late March 1994, and I was waiting for wind—again. Mooney Aircraft had loaned me a new TLS in January so I could set several world records flying between Los Angeles and Jacksonville, Fla.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 Top Mistakes In Convective Environments How to stay safe in bad weather Deep, moist convection, better known as thunderstorms, are the nemesis of all aircraft, big or small. Avoidance is mandatory.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 The Go/No-Go Decision In Winter The rules change when the weather turns cold It had been a long day. It was January 2003, and I’d departed Reykjavik, Iceland, in a 58 Baron; destination Iqaluit, Nunavit, Canada, with stops in Greenland, where it was clear and cold—in this case, minus-20 degrees C. I’d landed on the gravel runway at Kulusuk in the dark of noon, refueled as quickly as possible to avoid having the engines cool down, and leaped back off across the ice cap for the old U.S. air base at Sondre Strom Fjord, well above the Arctic Circle. The weather remained perfect as I spanned the cap at 14,000 feet in smooth, frigid air.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008 The Ugly Side Of Spring Winter hasn’t released its icy grip yet Whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his own shadow or not, winter is losing its death grip. But it isn’t dead yet. Widespread icing still exists during the transition months of March and April. Gulf moisture, warmer temperatures and an overactive jet stream guarantees that convective SIGMETs will begin to spring out of hibernation. With temperatures slowly on the rise, you need to tailor your briefings to focus on key weather products that track the vernal transition.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 Winter Flying: A Strategic Approach Tips for staying safe in a cold season Winter presents many complications for those who live in northern latitudes. Residents of warmer states like Florida and Arizona probably consider us northerners to be their somewhat slow-witted (and perhaps crazy) cousins, but winter offers its own set of pleasures—and challenges.

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