Aero-Tips!
A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard
this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer
statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of
"there are no old, bold pilots.") It's part of what makes aviation
so exciting for all of us... just when you think you've seen it
all, along comes a scenario you've never imagined.
Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner,
master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us
-- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators, and as
representatives of the flying community. Some of them, you may have
heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we
might never have considered before, or something that didn't
"stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for
the practical test.
It is our unabashed goal that "Aero-Tips" will help our readers
become better, safer pilots -- as well as introducing our
ground-bound readers to the concepts and principles that keep those
strange aluminum-and-composite contraptions in the air... and allow
them to soar magnificently through it.
Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you
through the Aero-News Network. Suggestions for future Aero-Tips are
always welcome, as are additions or discussion of each day's tips.
Remember... when it comes to being better pilots, we're all in this
together.
Aero-Tips 06.08.06
We had a heck of a storm here in central Kansas the other night.
Buckets of water fell between harsh flashes of lightning as winds
whipped up over 65 miles per hour on the surface.
A look at the morning's satellite image (above) showed the most
amazing view -- if it weren't smack-dab over the center of the
continent I'd swear I was looking at an overhead view of a small
hurricane.
Cutaway low
The surface charts, meanwhile, looked rather benign. The area
was actually under the primary (surface) influence of a high
pressure system -- reputedly good weather, not the inland hurricane
that was still winding to my east.
The real culprit, however, was the innocuous big red "L" shown
over Oklahoma (below). Depicted lows not associated with a surface
front are usually "lows aloft", sometimes called "upper-level
disturbances". The low aloft in this case was part of a trof in the
upper levels, shown by the dashed line straddled by the low.
A particularly strong low aloft will wrap itself so tightly that
it separates from the jet stream. It may meander for days over a
small geographic area, and may even drift "backward", to the west,
since it's not propelled by the jet stream flow. These cutaway lows
("cut away" from the jet stream) can produce intense storm systems
like the "inland hurricane" that passed my way last night -- all
while the surface chart showed us to be in a high pressure
area.
Aero-tip of the day: Consider pressure systems
aloft when making decisions about when and whether to fly.
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