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.

FMI: Aero-Tips