The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has recently created a five minute podcast about preparing for thunderstorms and summer flying. In the podcast, John Collins, a CFI in South Carolina, discusses the risks associated with hazy weather and how to be prepared for thunderstorms with the new technologies available.
According to John, pilots need to be aware that visibility may be 5 or 6 miles in one direction but only 2 or 3 miles in the other direction while vertical visibility may be obscured by haze. Also, pilots may find themselves on top of or right in the middle of a thunderstorm before they realize it.
Hence, the podcast also includes a discussion of new technologies such as hand-held weather receivers that are meant to detect such storms. However, John also pointed out that such devices are more strategic rather than tactical in nature. In other words, pilots using such devices may decide to avoid a weather system by flying 30 or 40 miles in one direction only to end up putting themselves right in the middle of one.
So if you plan on doing any summer flying this year, the short podcast is well worth listening to.
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