ANN's New Weather Columnist Is On A Critical Mission

Aviator/Instructor Scott Dennstaedt, who will soon be offering ANN Readers essential knowledge about a critical aviation skill via a new column on Aviation Weather, is on a mission.

Engine failure, electrical failure and instrument failure are all non-routine events, but are part of a pilot's routine training regiment. We learn and practice techniques so that when bad things happen we can remain under control and survive. Even though these events rarely happen our training prepares us for the unexpected.

When it comes to flying and the weather we really only have one and only one chance to do it right. Oh sure, we can skirt the edge of adverse weather and live to tell about it. Statistically, however, the odds are greatly against us to survive a direct hit. Therefore, the rules of the game are quite clear; stay out of the bad stuff and you will live to fly again.

Scott notes that, "Even before I became an instructor, it was apparent that the study of the atmosphere was not being taught to a deep enough level. Even today, the extent of aviation weather knowledge of many pilots is typically limited to memorizing the answers to 50 or 60 weather questions. Trivia questions about steam fog or the various stages of a thunderstorm are all very interesting, but don't teach us anything about weather planning technique or tools."

"There are many disciplines within aviation weather that are missing from basic pilot training. I dare you to find any aviation textbook that discusses numerical weather prediction, the crux of all of our weather forecasts? What about other tools such as Nexrad or concepts such as parcel theory? Are these left out because they are way too advanced for the average pilot?"

The Reason for Chesapeake Aviation Training

Chesapeake Aviation Training is headquartered in Baltimore and was founded not to attack the world of aviation training, but to fill the many voids left out of basic aviation training. The Weather or Not seminar series is the first of many aviation weather seminars being offered by Chesapeake Aviation Training throughout the US. The two-day ground training course can't possibly fill in all the gaps, but is designed to plug a few of them.
 
If you want to learn about a few unfamiliar weather topics to broaden the scope of your aviation weather knowledge, then Weather or Not will hardly disappoint you. The material is very challenging so you have to come with an open mind and fully prepared to learn some new techniques and new weather jargon.

The seminar starts on a Saturday at 10 am with an overview of weekend and includes a brief discussion on the importance of aviation weather training. The remainder of the weekend is broken into four segments that provide an interwoven discussion of both familiar and unfamiliar weather topics pertinent to aviation.

Then the fun really begins with an introduction to numerical weather prediction (NWP). This segment provides the foundation for the remaining three segments. Several representative weather forecasting models are discussed. The focus of this segment is not to demonstrate "how" numerical weather prediction works, but how to utilize the products of numerical weather prediction for the purposes of flight planning.

The Saturday afternoon segment covers Nexrad ground-based weather radar. This topic is a bit more relaxed and much more familiar to most pilots. Nexrad has a very high glance value and you probably already use this for your preflight planning.

Moreover, Nexrad is becoming a very popular cockpit weather tool. Even though this product is somewhat familiar to pilots, there are many aspects that are not widely known or understood. Understanding the image you are viewing is paramount to using the product safely. The first day of the seminar finishes around 5 pm.

The seminar continues bright and early on Sunday at 8:30 am to begin the next challenging topic, namely, parcel theory. Parcel theory uses thermodynamic diagrams to determine the stability or instability of the atmosphere. Additionally, thermodynamic diagrams can be used to determine cloud top and cloud bases as well as assess the freezing level and icing potential.

Finally, the seminar finishes with a discussion of terminal aerodrome forecasts (TAFs). This segment presents a behind the scenes look of how a meteorologist constructs and amends a TAF. The seminar completes at about 3 pm on Sunday.
 
The seminar is designed to be very interactive. Those attending are encouraged to ask questions and participate in the discussion. A complimentary light lunch is provided for both seminar days and a dinner is normally organized for Saturday evening for those who may be interested.

Weather or Not has already been held at the Sporty's facility in Batavia, Ohio as well as in Baltimore, Maryland and Rapid City, South Dakota. Future seminars are scheduled for San Jose, CA, Palm Springs, CA, Charleston, SC, Martha's Vineyard, MA, Fort Lauderdale, FL and Austin, TX. A minimum of 10 registrations is necessary to hold the class. Early registration discounts may apply.

ANN readers will not only be benefiting from Scott's expertise, shortly, but we plan to audit one of these courses in the near future and furnish an in-depth report... we'll keep you up to date.

FMI: http://chesavtraining.com, register@chesavtraining.com