KIDA 271653Z 24017G25KT 10SM BKN041 09/M01 A2993 RMK A02 PK WND 22027/1642 SLP127
TAF
KIDA 271135Z 2712/2812 21015KT P6SM SCT090
FM271500 22026G36KT P6SM VCSH SCT040 BKN060CB
FM280300 22016G26KT P6SM VCSH SCT060 BKN100
FM280800 2101KT P6SM BKN100
Do you understand?! This is one of many languages in aviation. There's many different things to use when you are planning a flight. This is only one. It talks about weather and visibility. The breakdown is as follows:
KIDA is the name of the airspace by the airport in my town.
271653Z is the date and time. 27 (the 27th) and 16:53 is the time. It's not military time. It's Zulu Time. It's the standard international time. In this case, 16:53 is 12:53 PM. (Zulu time is calculated by taking the 1653 and subtracting 16 from it. Then it's just military time from there.)
The wind is at 17 knots, in 240 degrees on your compass, which is about southwest. The gusts are at about 25 knots. As a student pilot, our school doesn't allow us to fly past 25 knots so this is discretionary.
There is 10 square miles of visibility.
The clouds are broken at 04,100 feet up.
The temperature is at 9 degrees celsius, and the dew point is minus 01 (to calculate if you need carb heat or not, these two numbers need to be within 11 points of each other. Today we will need carb heat in our helicopter to fly safely :D)
A2993 is the setting that you set your altimeter at in your helicopter, which is a device used to measure barometric pressure, and it's used to tell pilots how far up they can fly. You set your altimeter at 2992 which is the national average of the US. Then, it will give you the elevation that you are at. Then the altimeter will change off of the pressure of the day.
RMK and A02 are just the descriptions of the machine that was used to find the information for ADDS.
The TAF is basically the guestimates they have for the weather in the next few hours time.
Hm. Sounds like a lot to learn. And that's just the beginning of finding out your limitations for that flight you're about to go on. There's so much more!
Weather maps, Sierra, which is information for IFR conditions and mountain obscuration (so if a pilot can't see out the windows and are using only their instruments to fly, this will tell someone where the obstacles are...like big buildings in a big city? Yes! Is it scary to fly when you can't see and only rely on a machine to tell you if you're going to hit a skyscraper? Probably, but, FLY IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT :)), Tango (which helps pilots learn about any turbulance that may be occuring), Zulu Airmet (for info about icing in the air), and Pirep which is several pilots own accounts of the weather out there that machines didn't capture. The pilots report to the Air Traffic Control tower, and they record the information. These are only a few more things that pilots use to guide them in flight!
Currently, James is learning about weather. I read somewhere that when you study to be a pilot, students shouldn't just say, "I'm learning how to fly!". What would be more accurate would be to say, "I'm learning how to fly and I'm going to be a weather expert!!", because there is so much more to learn besides flying. Obviously as you can imagine, the weather is one of the biggest - If not THE biggest - factors in flying. Especially for helicopters as a small rotorcraft.
The strength of the turbulence is directly proportional to the temperature of your coffee.
— Gunter's Second Law of Air Travel
love your blog!!!! soooo coool!!!!! :-) desiree
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