PIREP - how to make a PIREP

Aopa Safety Foundation has a great program on how to make PIREP’s, and you learn something about the weather again.

http://www.aopa.org/asf/skyspotter/

Wish we had such great programs this side of the pond…

Jaap

Jaap,

This is a nice little presentation. Worth the time. However, how can we get more pilots to make those extremely valuable PIREPs (even when in the clear)?

It had been my experience that yes you can teach someone to takeoff and land the airplane as well as do the preflight/run-up but, judgement is something that only experience offers. Show the student/pilot how pireps and enroute weather (short ones) briefs can make your journey safe if you know what others have experienced and where and what you are flying into.

I do have an FAA form for the sequence and items to be covered in a pirep but even I don’t always include every item; e.g. temperature.

In reply to:


I do have an FAA form for the sequence and items to be covered in a pirep but even I don’t always include every item; e.g. temperature.


I made a resolution to give a PIREP on every flight, which has now become a habit; the one datapoint I often omit is my type (!) and occasionally winds, since I don’t always have time to go through the GNS430 calculation.

Scott makes a valid point that one of the most valuable PIREPs is “smooth-ride-VMC,” especially in the winter .

I agree with Mike, I always try to make at least one PIREP, but more when the WX differs from what was forecast. For instance the WX for my entire route of flight between KY and MD was moderate turbulence below 10,000’, but one above 3,500 it was very smooth. As a pilot planning a flight, that is info that I’d like to know.

As for the formats, don’t be intimidated, just call Flightwatch/122.00, give them your position… (use the nearest VOR page on the Garmin to get that info) and tell them what you want to report. The FW guy will ask you any questions he feels is pertinent. In general they would like your type of aircraft, route, location altitude temp and wx conditions. Cloud tops and bottoms are always nice. Any hazards (icing, strong turbulence, windsheer) are very important as well.

Marty

I’m almost always disappointed by the number of pireps I find during flight-planning, which generally vary from few to none; imagine how much better our selection of cruising altitudes could be if we could triple the pirep count.

Last month, someone suggested the noble, if quixotic, idea that SR2X pilots could become known as generous souls among line crew–I’d like to see us have the distinction of boosting the low-altitude pirep population. With our state-of-the-art avionics for precise location and wind calculations (soon to be made easier by the wind vector of the PFD), we have every reason to help FSS, fellow pilots, and ourselves with better real-time data points.

I look forward to reading more PIREPs with “TP SR2X,” maybe even on my Avidyne! [H]

–Michael

I try to give at least one pirep each flight to ATC as I am often flying IFR. But it seems mosts of the pireps given to ATC do not end up in official reports as center and approach do not pass them on officially.
That leads to the problem of having to leave the frequency to go to FSS to file a pirep. That is a disincentive to have to stop talking to a controller just to file a pirep.
Is there any mecahnism we can use to promote ATC filing of our pireps?

Michael: Regarding “I look forward to reading more PIREPs with TP SR2X, maybe even on my Avidyne” do you know something about whether Avidyne is going to display pireps on the satellite weather option?

I would like to see Avidyne incorporate the uploading of pireps into their datalink. The Avidyne already knows your aircraft type, position, and altitude. You could select ride, cloud tops/bottoms, ice, and viz from menus. If the plane were Entegra-equipped, it could also automatically send the wind.

-Mike

How about using the split com function on the audio panel and training those who frequent the right seat to call ia pireps that have been prepared by the pilot?

In Reply To:
"Is there any mecahnism we can use to promote ATC filing of our pireps? "
Check out the AOPA Air Safety Foundation SKYSPOTTER web site, do the on-line training program (doesn’t take long!), then when filing PIREPS with ATC tell the controller you are filing a “skyspotter PIREP”. AOPA and ASF are using the SKYSPOTTER program to train pilots to give PIREPS correctly and often, AND to track PIREPS through the system to find out when/where/why PIREPS don’t make it from controllers to FSS. My interpretation is that the “SKYSPOTTER” tag to the PIREP is supposed to nudge ATC controllers to actually code it into the system. Pilots periodically submit their PIREP reporting data to ASF, which uses it to audit the PIREP reporting system, tracing each event back to the controller who should have entered the PIREP into the system as soon as he/she took it from the pilot.

In reply to:


I would like to see Avidyne incorporate the uploading of pireps into their datalink. The Avidyne already knows your aircraft type, position, and altitude. You could select ride, cloud tops/bottoms, ice, and viz from menus. If the plane were Entegra-equipped, it could also automatically send the wind.


Mike,

That’s one reasonable way. Another I’ve often thought about would be via transponders (since those are presumably being “injected” into the overall aviation fleets faster). Kind of like a “reverse Mode S”, where the transponder response to the radar ping could OPTIONALLY include addtional data; for this to work, it would have to be backwards-compatible, meaning that the new “protocol” would have no effect on ground stations not equipped to handle it. One way of achieving this could be to have the transponder send out a separate, redundant response (in-band), or to use a different frequency (out-of-band).

Anyway, data that could be sent could automatically include aircraft type/tail number (built in via setup menus), position, track, GS, altitude, OAT, wind (if AHRS or ADAHRS equipped), and even an objective accelerometer-based “turbulence” measurment, averaged over say the previous few minutes. Other measurements, like visibility, could also be automated somewhat, but would require more significant extra equipment. As you say, cloud info would most likely have to be entered manually by the pilot.

Major advantages of such a system would include a tremendous “beefing up” of the real-time weather data available to pilots and forecasters, an obvious advantage. I know from talking to various vendors at e.g. Oshkosh that several such systems are being considered, and I’m anxious for the day that they are widely used.

Mike.

If I’m flying alone, I either leave the freq, easy enough to do when in uncongested airspace, or monitor ATC while speaking to Flightwatch. I can always say, “stand by 1,” if I need to talk to ATC.

I was accustomed to listening to multiple sites speak on the radio from my USAF days, so maybe it is just another useless skill the military gave me. That goes with the ability to translate morse code, which is great for evals, but useless all other times.

Marty

Speaking of Mode S transponders, did you notice that the FAA already has a Mode S code assigned to each aircraft? You can view them at: http://registry.faa.gov/arquery.asp

-Mike

THAT (USAF) explains that little ball in the middle. Did you really time your camera to catch it as it went through dead center?
Naval Aviator Mick (Did you notice Cathy was wearing my old leather flight jacket yesterday? Just a tad too snug for me anymore - like maybe I could get an arm in it.)

In reply to:


Did you notice Cathy was wearing my old leather flight jacket yesterday? Just a tad too snug for me anymore


Mick: It really is amazing how that old military flight gear shrinks with age!

Marty

In reply to:


Michael: Regarding “I look forward to reading more PIREPs with TP SR2X, maybe even on my Avidyne” do you know something about whether Avidyne is going to display pireps on the satellite weather option?


No, Stephen, it was just wishful thinking. They would be a natural source of enroute conditions if we could increase the pirep count and coverage.

–Michael