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 04.27.06
Almost all aviation
weather products come from the FAA’s Aviation Weather Center
in Kansas City, Missouri. Sometimes, however, events in the
field outpace the ability of the AWC to issue advisories and
updates. When adverse weather builds rapidly, you may hear
(or read) of a Center Weather Advisory.
Each of the 21 Air Traffic Control Air Route Traffic Centers
(aka, “Centers”) has National Weather Service
meteorologists in what is called the Center Weather Service Unit,
or SWSU. Primary function of the CWSU meteorologists is to
provide air traffic control room supervisors and Traffic Management
Units with up-to-date information on hazardous weather that may
require deviations, delays or reroutes of en route IFR
airplanes.
NOTE: Airborne in a severe weather pinch?
You may be able to speak directly with an SWSU meteorologist in an
emergency -- ask the Center controller to have the Center Weather
guy/gal plug in.
CWSU meteorologists also provide two unscheduled weather
products:
- The Meteorological Impact Statement (MIS), a two- to 12-hour
forecast of weather conditons expected to impact ATC operations,
and
- The Center Weather Advisory, a weather warning for pilots using
the airspace.
Center Weather Advisory
The Center Weather Advisory (CWA) is an aviation weather warning
for the “big five” hazards: thunderstorms, icing,
turbulence, and low ceilings and visibilities. CWAs are
created independently (of the rest of the National Weather service)
by SWSU meteorologists in each Air Route Traffic Control Center
(ARTCC). CWAs describe the nature, location and intensity of
aviation weather hazards, usually (eventually) supereceded by an
FAA-created SIGMET or Convective SIGMET if conditions
persist. Controllers will broadcast CWAs over ATC
frequencies; you may also hear them over recorded weather products
(ATIS, TWEBs, etc.) and hear or read them in your preflight weather
brief.
Aero-tip of the day: CWAs are created in
Air Traffic Control Centers to describe weather likely to be
hazardous enough that they require delays or reroutes of IFR
airplanes.