Pilot Training

Types of Airports

There are two types of airports—towered and nontowered. These types can be further subdivided to: Civil Airports—airports that are open to the general public. Military/Federal Government airports—airports operated by the military, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), or other agencies of the Federal Government. Private airports—airports designated for private or restricted use only, not open to the general public. Towered [...]

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Graphical METARs

Aviation Weather Services

METARs can be displayed on the multi-function display. Each reporting station that has a METAR/TAF available is depicted by a flag from the center of the airport symbol. Each flag is color coded to depict the type of weather that is currently reported at that station. A legend is available to assist users in determining [...]

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AIRMET/SIGMET Display

Aviation Weather Services

AIRMET/SIGMET information is available for the displayed viewing range on the MFD. Some displays are capable of displaying weather information for a 2,000 mile range. AIRMETS/SIGMETS are displayed by dashed lines on the map. [Figure 12-25] The legend box denotes the various colors used to depict the AIRMETs such as icing, turbulence, IFR weather, mountain [...]

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The Next Generation Weather Radar System (NEXRAD)

Aviation Weather Services

The NEXRAD system is comprised of a series of 159 Weather Surveillance Radar–1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) sites situated throughout the United States as well as selected oversees sites. The NEXRAD system is a joint venture between the United States Department of Commerce (DOC), the United States Department of Defense, (DOD) as well as the United States [...]

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Electronic Flight Displays (EFD) / Multi-Function Display (MFD) Weather

Aviation Weather Services

Many aircraft manufacturers now include satellite weather services with new electronic flight display (EFD) systems. EFDs give a pilot access to many of the satellite weather services available. Products available to a pilot on the display pictured in Figure 12-21 are listed as follows. The letters in parentheses indicate the soft key to press in [...]

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ATC Radar Weather Displays

Aviation Weather Services

Although ATC systems cannot always detect the presence or absence of clouds, they can often determine the intensity of a precipitation area, but the specific character of that area (snow, rain, hail, VIRGA, etc.) cannot be determined. For this reason, ATC refers to all weather areas displayed on ATC radar scopes as “precipitation.” ARTCC facilities [...]

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Weather Charts – Significant Weather Prognostic Charts

Aviation Weather Services

Significant weather prognostic charts are available for low-level significant weather from the surface to FL 240 (24,000 feet), also referred to as the 400 mb level, and high-level significant weather from FL 250 to FL 600 (25,000 to 60,000 feet). The primary concern of this discussion is the low-level significant weather prognostic chart. The low-level [...]

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Weather Charts – Radar Summary Chart

Aviation Weather Services

A radar summary chart is a graphically depicted collection of radar weather reports (SDs). [Figure 12-17] The chart is published hourly at 35 minutes past the hour. It displays areas of precipitation, as well as information regarding the characteristics of the precipitation. [Figure 12-18] A radar summary chart includes: No information—if information is not reported, [...]

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Weather Charts – Weather Depiction Chart

Aviation Weather Services

A weather depiction chart details surface conditions as derived from METAR and other surface observations. The weather depiction chart is prepared and transmitted by computer every 3 hours beginning at 0100Z time, and is valid at the time of the plotted data. It is designed to be used for flight planning by giving an overall [...]

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