We are excited to announce connectivity between ForeFlight Mobile and Garmin avionics. When connected to Garmin Flight Stream, you can now wirelessly receive ADS-B weather and traffic, precise GPS position data, and dynamic pitch and bank information on your iPad or iPhone.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
ForeFlight Mobile connects to compatible Garmin avionics via the Flight Stream 210/110, Garmin’s Bluetooth® wireless gateway, and displays the full suite of ADS-B weather and traffic information received from the GDL 88/84. The Flight Stream 210, with its internal attitude sensor, powers ForeFlight’s Synthetic Vision and adds a backup attitude capability with dynamic pitch and bank information.
WAAS GPS position information from GTN™ 650/750, GNS™ 430W/530W navigators, or GDL 88 with an internal WAAS receiver can also be used to power features like ForeFlight Mobile’s moving map and geo-referenced approach plates and taxi diagrams to enhance situational awareness in the air and on the ground.
Additionally, flight plan transfer capability is currently in development and will be available in a future app update.
Support for Garmin Flight Stream connectivity is available with ForeFlight Mobile 7.2, now available for download on the App Store. For more information, visit foreflight.com/connect.
The ground-based radar mosaic displayed on the Map view in ForeFlight Mobile combines radar data from the National Weather Service (NWS) and Environment Canada. Its primary purpose is to provide pilots with a good estimation of where precipitation is occurring and where it’s not. While there are some holes in the coverage (especially in Canada) the radar mosaic is fairly accurate most of the time. Even so, non-precipitation returns generically called ground clutter can be displayed on the radar layer producing what looks like very real areas of precipitation.
Anomalous propagation, or AP, is perhaps the most annoying form of clutter. Essentially with AP, part of the side lobes of the radar beam are ducted or bent down toward the earth during certain atmospheric conditions. This causes it to strike objects on the ground (trees, buildings, cars, etc.) and some of that power from the beam is reflected back to the radar along the same bent path and gets recorded as areas of precipitation. When this occurs you might see on ForeFlight what looks like real precipitation. In fact, it can look remarkably like real convection at times fooling even the most seasoned pilot.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Anomalous propagation (AP) on the ForeFlight radar layer near Buffalo, New York.
What to do if you suspect AP
Since AP can look remarkably like real areas of precipitation (including thunderstorms), it’s important to always examine the observational data in and around the area. This includes cross-checking surface observations (METARs) to see if precipitation or thunderstorms are being reported. Also, without clouds, it can’t rain. So if clear skies are being reported all around the area, then either the precipitation shown on the radar is very isolated or perhaps it’s erroneous. Keep in mind that automated reports only show clouds that exist below 12,000 feet AGL.
Along these lines, the visible satellite imagery in ForeFlight Mobile can also be useful to identify non-precipitation returns during the daytime hours. If precipitation exists on radar, there should be clouds in that region even if it is isolated convection. If there are no clouds, the returns on the radar are likely ground clutter or AP.
Even when the area is cloudy, AP can still exist. If this is the case and you suspect AP, try looping the radar. Most real precipitation moves and evolves over time, but AP tends to stay anchored over the same area with little noticeable movement. Moreover, the radar loop may look erratic and the intensity may change in a way that’s unnatural.
While AP can occur the U.S. it tends to occur the most in the Canadian Provinces. A favored place is on the U.S. side of Lake Erie just onshore and also in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest in British Columbia. While AP can occur anytime of the day or night, it’s often favored during the morning hours just before and after sunrise. This the time of day where the atmosphere is generally stable near the surface which is a perfect environment to allow the side lobes of the radar to be ducted.
So why can’t AP be filtered?
Filtering the radar of non-precipitation returns is like walking a fine line. If you filter too aggressively, you may remove real areas of precipitation; if you don’t filter enough, you get clutter such as AP displayed. In the U.S., filtering can be automated since the Doppler portion of the radar is available. This can be used to help filter AP and other ground clutter. While Canadian radars are Doppler radars, Environment Canada does not export the Doppler data at this time. Also in the U.S., the NEXRAD ground-based radar systems are all fitted with a dual polarization (dual pol) capability which can provide additional information to filter non-precipitation returns.
At the moment the only way to guarantee that AP from Canadian radars won’t find its way into the ForeFlight radar layer is to add a gross filter before the data reaches the display. This is accomplished by our radar provider by manually turning off the data coming from the offending radar(s). This can be risky since it means that all returns shown from this radar will be eliminated, false or not. The folks at Barons who produce the XM-delivered satellite weather also face the same issue with Canadian radars. They don’t turn off specific radars. Instead they create a manual gross filter that eliminates all returns over regions that are highly unlikely to receive precipitation.
In the end, every piece of information you use to make preflight decisions should be scrutinized even if it comes from a trusted source. Take the time to cross-check the radar layer against other sources within the ForeFlight Mobile app so you won’t be fooled.
Able Flight pilots from the Class of 2015 on the Main Stage at this year’s EAA Airventure.
Amid the wall-to-wall schedule of activities at Oshkosh, the most memorable moment for us was the Able Flight Wing Pinning Ceremony. ForeFlight proudly sponsors flight training scholarships for Able Flight, a non-profit organization that enables people with disabilities to challenge themselves through flight and aviation career training. Able Flight pilots achieve aviation goals some might say are impossible.
Tyson Weihs, our CEO and co-founder, had the honor of pinning wings on pilot Randy Green at this year’s EAA Airventure. Randy is an incredible gentleman who was born without hands or feet. His lifelong, unflinching desire to be a pilot and his many aviation accomplishments speak to how he doesn’t let his disability stop him from achieving his goals.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
ForeFlight CEO and co-founder, Tyson Weihs, joins pilot Randy Green on stage for the Wing Pinning ceremony.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Able Flight pilot Randy Green receives his wings from ForeFlight’s Tyson Weihs.
Randy’s dreams of becoming a pilot began in an Ercoupe that his father purchased so he and his brother could learn to fly. Taking those childhood dreams and turning them into a career, Randy earned his Private Pilot certificate in 1994 and quickly continued on to gain instrument, commercial, multi-engine and flight instructor ratings. Randy doesn’t use any special adapted equipment to operate hand controls and in his first year instructing he logged more than 1000 hours teaching others to fly.
Randy’s ultimate goal was to become a Corporate Pilot and after logging the hours, ratings, and showing others that he could do just about anything, he set his sights on completing his Air Transport Pilot rating. With the help of the Able Flight Career Training Scholarship, Randy passed his ATP check-ride in April of this year.
A recent job opportunity took Randy, his wife, and two daughters to Idaho where he now flies a corporate plane for a locally based company. Randy’s story is truly inspirational and a testament to never giving up on your dreams. Congratulations Randy on all of your accomplishments, we know there will be many more to come!
As the old saying goes, in so many ways, a picture speaks a thousand words. By now you have probably seen the chilling photo like the one shown in this media report of Delta Flight 1889 parked safely at the gate after diverting to Denver International Airport. This was the result of a nasty encounter with hail at 34,000 feet while en route from Boston to Salt Lake City last Friday evening. It makes little sense with today’s proven technology that any commercial aircraft should ever encounter such a hazardous situation and risk the lives of those on board. The crew of this Airbus A320 did an admirable job getting the aircraft safely on the ground after this encounter, but there’s another side to the story that got them into trouble in the first place. A few simple pictures in the cockpit may have made all the difference in the world to avoid putting these passengers through such a harrowing experience.
It’s truly a shame that a pilot flying a single engine Cessna 172 can have significantly more weather information available to them in the cockpit than the crew of this A320 had. We woulda, coulda, shoulda this crew’s decision to fly into this developing area of convection, but that’s not the point. The simple fact is, aircrews flying paying customers today are not equipped with matured technology that will provide them with valuable weather data to make timely decisions during any phase of flight to avoid these kinds of encounters.
Think big picture
Sure, these aircraft are equipped with onboard radar and the crews they carry are highly trained and experienced pilots who know how to make use of that radar. Even when properly used, onboard radar has limitations. It is a real-time snapshot of what’s occurring right now out in front of the aircraft, and this is critical data for tactical decisions, but is simply a microcosm of the overall energy in the atmosphere. In events like this, it is the macro picture of what’s unfolding 100 or more miles away that is often just as important. This large-scale view is better suited to help make the proper strategic decisions, especially when it comes to a developing area of severe thunderstorms. But that information needs to get to the pilot-in-command.
The view from above
Air crews can and do get help from air traffic controllers. Controllers can tout about a “hole” that the last five aircraft recently traversed. But that doesn’t necessarily tell you how fast that hole is closing up and whether or not it will still be there when you arrive. The crew may also have access to their company’s dispatchers, but in the end, the captain may not have the complete picture in his or her head…and that’s where these strategic decisions are made.
This color-enhanced infrared satellite image (also available in ForeFlight Mobile) valid at 0045 UTC shows two distinct areas of convection. Dark purple and white areas denote very cold cloud tops likely from strong updrafts. Flight path of Delta 1889 taken from Flightaware is shown in black.
The squeeze play
Even before Delta Flight 1889 departed Boston’s Logan Airport, two areas of convection started to blossom in Colorado, one in northeast Colorado and the other in southeast Colorado. At 0045 UTC, you can see two distinct systems on the color-enhanced infrared satellite image shown above. As the Airbus crossed over the Mississippi River (black line is the aircraft’s approximate track taken from Flightaware) around the time this satellite image was taken, both areas of thunderstorms had been designated as severe. Nevertheless, there’s clearly a gap between these two convective systems and that appears to be where the crew was headed.
This color-enhanced infrared satellite image valid at 0115 UTC shows the gap between these two areas of convection beginning to quickly fill in with a rapidly developing line of severe thunderstorms.
The gap shrinks on satellite
By 0115Z, that severe line of thunderstorms to the south moved into western Kansas. A line of storms developed on the northern extent of this area of severe thunderstorms bridging the gap shown very clearly in the infrared satellite image above. At this point the flight was still in southwest Iowa just about to cross the Nebraska State line. Even if this image didn’t become available for at least 15 to 20 minutes later at 0130Z, it was plenty of time to notice this explosive area of convection was quickly filling this gap.
About 20 minutes before Delta Flight 1889 penetrated this line of storms, the gap had completely closed with the color-enhanced infrared satellite image showing very cold (high) cloud tops along the route of flight.
The gap is all gone
About 20 minutes before the crew diverted to Denver at 0205 UTC, the image above shows the gap is now completely gone as these two areas of severe convection continue to mature and merge into one mesoscale convective system (MCS). Unfortunately, the crew of this Airbus A320 did not have access to critical weather data such as this. A simple three hour loop of this color-enhanced infrared satellite image could have given the pilots enough information to recognize the gap was closing and choose a better route to prevent this kind of encounter from occurring.
The view from the ground
The local ground-based NEXRAD that is updated every five minutes had even more details that might have suggested the gap would quickly disappear. Once again, this kind of strategic weather information is not available in the cockpit of these aircraft. The 2.5 hour 0.5 degree base reflectivity loop shown below is from the Goodland, Kansas WSR-88D NEXRAD Doppler radar. The loop ends right about the time the crew diverted to Denver, shortly after being pelted by hail.
This is a loop of the 0.5 degree base reflectivity out of Goodland, Kansas. This loop shows how the gap between these two convective systems begins to quickly disappear. Radar site is in the center of this image. Source: UCAR.
The catalyst
At the beginning of this loop, notice a crescent-shaped area of low reflectivity returns appears out of the northern edge of the southern-most area of severe storms. This is called an outflow boundary. According to meteorologist and thunderstorm researcher, Dr. Charles Doswell, III, “Cold, stable air is the ‘exhaust’ of deep, moist convection, descending in downdrafts and then spreading outward like pancake batter poured on a griddle. After spreading outward, the leading edge of this outflow – a ‘gust front’ – which often has ascent associated with it, can develop new storms.”
This is a perfect description of what transpires next. This boundary continues to push north-northeast and helps to initiate a new line of thunderstorms that rapidly blossoms into a convective barrier in extreme southwest Nebraska leaving the crew little choice but to use their onboard radar to tactically locate and penetrate the “softest” part of this line.
The crew of this Airbus didn’t have any ground-based radar loop such as this available to them in the cockpit. Even so, most of the in-cockpit radar mosaics that general aviation pilots use every day is a volume product constructed from a composite of all elevation angles of the radar. Composite reflectivity tends to mask out important details such as these outflow boundaries. Unfortunately, most in-cockpit weather providers have chosen not to broadcast the 0.5 degree base reflectivity product like the one shown above. This includes the radar mosaic that can be received through the FIS-B (ADS-B) broadcast with Stratus or through the Baron Mobile Link for XM-delivered satellite weather.
Vertically integrated liquid or VIL is another volume product that can show the truly nasty part of the storm. This loop clearly shows how quickly the gap disappeared between these two convective areas. Source: Plymouth State Weather Center.
More is better
Furthermore, there are other NEXRAD products that can be very useful in flight. This includes another volume product called vertically integrated liquid (VIL) shown above. As mentioned earlier, composite reflectivity looks at all elevation angles of the radar for a particular volume scan and shows the highest reflectivity return in the column. VIL is similar, but is a summation of the reflectivity in the column. VIL is often an indicator of the storms’s updraft strength and has a strong link to observed hail size.
At 0055 UTC, two convective SIGMETs were active each describing an area or line of severe thunderstorms. Source: NOAA.
Severe weather and aircraft don’t mix
You might say hindsight is 20/20, but this isn’t about second guessing a pilot’s decision. Instead, it’s a plea that aircrews should have more information available to them to make better informed decisions. There’s no doubt this was a risky choice; not only a risk of hail damage, but the threat of dangerous convective turbulence. The weather on both sides of the flight path consisted of severe thunderstorms. At 0055 UTC, the Aviation Weather Center (AWC) had issued two convective SIGMETs (WSTs) covering both areas of severe thunderstorms. Whether thunderstorms are severe or not is determined by the local weather forecast offices, but was echoed in the text of these convective SIGMETs. Both advisories suggested the potential for hail up to 2 inches in diameter as shown below.
The southern most convective SIGMET was issued for a line of severe thunderstorms with hail up to 2 inches in diameter with tops above FL450. Source: NOAA.
It’s time to end this madness
It’s the middle of the second decade of the 21st century and no airplane should end up flying into or near a thunderstorm and encounter hail and turbulence like that of Delta Flight 1889. Was this just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time? Not likely. Perhaps a bit of bad timing, but it was not some kind of surprise encounter that removed the paint and dented the nose cone of this A320. Not only that, but the hail nearly shattered the pilot and co-pilot’s front windscreen making it look like something you’d see in a Hollywood movie. As Stu Ostro, a senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel, commented: “hail shafts aren’t like lightning bolts from the blue shooting way out the side of a storm.”
It’s time to start requiring commercial aircraft to have unlimited access to weather information in the cockpit – more than just onboard radar. Many aircraft equipped with Wi-Fi could easily connect to any number of ground-based weather sources and display it on a mobile device such as an iPad. Regulatory restrictions currently make such devices difficult to approve for inflight use. Even with a device like a Stratus, the FIS-B data broadcast is still lagging way behind the available technology. So it’s time to start providing pilots with more than just basic weather data that mimics the heavy textual weather of the 1980s. There’s no doubt that getting more graphical weather data in the cockpit along with some additional training will keep professional aircrews from flying blindly into a hailstorm. Fortunately for those on board Delta Flight 1889, this flight ended well. This encounter should be a wakeup call to the FAA to allow pilots to have unfettered access in the cockpit to whatever weather data is necessary to make every flight an uneventful one.
Let’s say you are making a round-robin VFR flight; your plan is to leave in a couple of hours and return back home three days later. For the initial outbound leg, there’s a ton of weather guidance available to be sure you can make a safe VFR trip. This includes observational products such as ground-based radar (NEXRAD), satellite imagery, pilot weather reports and METARs, as well as forecasts such as prog charts, terminal forecasts (TAFs) and the area forecast (FA) along with AIRMET Sierra. But what about that return flight in three days? We’ll get to this trip a bit later.
No help available
The low-level SIGWX, area forecast, and terminal forecasts are fine for anticipating the weather for the next day or so, but they simply don’t extend out far enough in the future to tell you if IFR conditions might mess with your plans three days down the road. Prog charts go out to seven days, but only depict areas of precipitation out to 48 hours and say nothing about ceilings nor visibility; however, don’t cast out the prog charts just yet. A widespread low IFR event ordinarily doesn’t happen without some kind of large-scale synoptic support. So prog charts can provide some important clues.
Use MOS
To zero in on ceilings and visibility up to three days in advance, you’ll want to try a model-based forecast called GFS MOS (also known as the MAV). The GFS MOS ceiling and visibility forecast is available in ForeFlight Mobile’s USA Imagery collections. This forecast graphically depicts the expected ceiling and visibility over the next three days at three-hour forecast intervals for the conterminous U.S. Moreover, it’s refreshed every six hours.
Model Output Statistics, or MOS, is derived from numerical weather prediction models that meteorologists use to issue their forecasts—in this case the Global Forecast System, or GFS. This model doesn’t automatically produce a point forecast for a specific town or airport. Combined with geoclimatic data, MOS takes the “raw” model forecast and attempts to improve on it by making a more useful site-specific forecast complete with weather elements critical to pilots, such as ceiling and visibility.
MOS in several forms
MOS guidance can be displayed for specific airports, as seen in ForeFlight Mobile. However, to determine the widespread nature of the event, GFS MOS guidance can also be graphically contoured over a geographic area the size of the conterminous United States (shown below for ceiling height). Displaying the categorical ceiling height and/or visibility graphically in this way is perhaps the best approach to use MOS for extended guidance.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
The categorical GFS MOS forecast for ceiling. Legend is located at the bottom of the forecast.
Definition of ceiling
Before we go any further, let’s do a quick review. A ceiling is the lowest cloud layer aloft that is reported as broken or overcast. If the sky is totally obscured (hidden), the height of the vertical visibility will be the ceiling. Ceilings are represented as above ground level, not mean sea level. So the GFS MOS forecast for ceiling is showing height above the ground. But keep in mind that ceilings can vary widely over rugged terrain.
Ceiling forecast
This forecast is a close cousin of the MOS forecast available in ForeFlight Mobile. Unlike the area forecast and TAFs that offer an absolute ceiling and prevailing ground visibility forecast, the GFS MOS guidance is a categorial forecast. It uses flight categories to include Very Low IFR (VLIFR), Low IFR (LIFR), IFR, Marginal VFR (MVFR) and VFR. The color-coded legend that depicts these categories for the contours on the map is located at the bottom of each forecast as shown below. Areas depicted in black on the map are expected to be clear below 12,000 feet AGL.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Legend that exists at the bottom of each GFS MOS ceiling forecast annotated with ceiling flight categories.
Visibility forecast
Visibility is very similar. Keep in mind that this a forecast for prevailing ground visibility. Flight categories include VLIFR, LIFR, IFR, MVFR and VFR as well. Areas shown in black represent a visibility forecast greater than 6 statute miles.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Legend that exists at the bottom of each GFS MOS visibility forecast annotated with visibility flight categories.
Decoding the date-time stamp
Before using any forecast you must be certain how to decode the date-time stamp on the image. For the GFS MOS ceiling and visibility forecast, this is located in a banner across the top of each image like the one shown below. The date-time stamp is located on the second line of this banner. This forecast uses YYMMDD/HH as the format (annotated in white below). So in this example, the text 150828/1500 on the second line suggests the forecast is valid at 1500 UTC on August 28, 2015. The text at the end of the second line following “1500” or V075 is less important and simply states the forecast hour. In this case, it’s a 75 hour forecast—meaning that it’s a projection of what the ceiling (or visibility) will be in 75 hours from the time the GFS model was initialized. The GFS model is initialized four times daily at 0000, 0600, 1200 and 1800 UTC.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
A proposed VFR round-robin flight
Back to our round-robin flight. It’s Wednesday and the plan is to depart Oshkosh (KOSH), Wisconsin this afternoon headed to International Falls (KINL), Minnesota with a return to Oshkosh three days later on Saturday morning. After examining the TAFs, area forecast and pilot weather reports, the weather is looking excellent for today’s flight. The layers overlaid on the ForeFlight Mobile Map view below include the latest satellite, current ceilings and AIR/SIGMETs. The satellite image shows a some scattered clouds in the vicinity of Oshkosh, but clear skies all the way to International Falls.
The ForeFlight Mobile Map view shows the latest satellite layer along with the AIR/SIGMETs and ceiling layers. Except for some scattered clouds in the Oshkosh area, no other weather concerns on the flight from KOSH to KINL.
So the outbound flight this afternoon has no real weather implications for a VFR flight, but what about the return leg back to Oshkosh on Saturday morning? Most of the public forecasts are showing a 30% chance of showers on Saturday as shown below, but nothing in this forecast mentions ceilings or visibility.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
GFS MOS comes to the rescue! This 75-hour forecast below is valid at 1500 UTC on Saturday and clearly shows that a VFR flight back to Oshkosh isn’t very likely. During the morning, a good portion of the route from International Falls to Oshkosh includes ceilings below a VFR flight category.
This GFS MOS categorical ceiling forecast valid at 1500 UTC on Saturday shows IFR conditions along the route.
But the news isn’t all that bad. The weather is expected to improve in the afternoon as shown in this 81-hour forecast below valid at 2100 UTC on Saturday. The entire route is forecast to be clear below 12,000 feet. Of course, it would be important to also check the forecast visibility at this time.
This GFS MOS categorical ceiling forecast valid at 2100 UTC on Saturday shows ceilings improve significantly with skies clear below 12,000 feet along most of the proposed route.
Finding GFS MOS in ForeFlight
The GFS MOS ceiling and visibility forecasts are located in the ForeFlight weather Imagery. On the iPad tap on Imagery and then tap on the USA button on the lower left. On the left menu bar you will see selections for Ceiling Forecast and Visibility Forecast under the GFS MOS label. Forecasts on the right begin at 6 hours and run through 84 hours for both ceiling and visibility.
In this recent blog we presented a round-robin VFR flight from Oshkosh to International Falls. The concern was not the initial leg, but the return flight three days later. Would ceilings permit a VFR flight from International Falls back to Oshkosh on Saturday? The 75-hour GFS MOS forecast below provided clear guidance that a morning return would not be very likely given the IFR ceilings forecast along this route. But what really happened?
Original 75-hour GFS MOS forecast valid at 1500 UTC for the return flight Saturday. This clearly shows that a VFR flight from International Falls to Oshkosh will not be possible in the morning.
Turns out the GFS MOS was spot on with the ceiling forecast as shown below on ForeFlight Mobile. While low IFR conditions were much more widespread than forecast, much of the region forecast to be in the marginal VFR flight category or lower were indeed at or below marginal VFR.
Actual ceilings at 1500 UTC as shown on ForeFlight.
How about later in the afternoon? The 81-hour GFS MOS forecast below valid at 2100 UTC suggested the low IFR ceilings would give way to VFR ceilings making a VFR flight possible later in the afternoon.
Original 81-hour GFS MOS forecast valid at 2100 UTC for the return flight Saturday. This guidance shows that ceilings were expected to improve later in the afternoon.
By 2100 UTC as shown below in ForeFlight, ceilings began to lift and mix out throughout the early afternoon giving rise to VFR conditions along a good portion of the proposed route of flight. However, there were some marginal VFR conditions still remaining in the vicinity of International Falls and Oshkosh with a few stations reporting ceilings slightly below 2,000 feet. It took a couple more hours before the entire route was truly VFR. Still, that’s not a bad forecast for 3 days out with an error of just a few hours.
The ceilings in the vicinity of the departure and destination airports remained slightly below VFR at 2100 UTC, but most of the route cleared as expected.
While the GFS MOS guidance won’t provide this kind of clarity every single time, it does a surprisingly good job most of the time. Give it a go on your next round-robin flight.
As mentioned in the ForeFlight blog back in June, the familiar prog charts pilots use every day will be changing. Hopefully you’ve had a chance to test drive these new NDFD prog charts that were introduced in ForeFlight Mobile 7.1. Beginning this morning (September 1, 2015) the precipitation forecast on these charts will now originate from meteorologists at the local NWS forecast offices and not from meteorologists at the Weather Prediction Center (WPC). For more information, you can read the official NWS notification.
Still a forecast for precipitation coverage
The precipitation shown on the new chart still represents an instantaneous precipitation forecast. That is, it shows expected precipitation coverage valid at the time specified on the chart. As a result, it is not valid over a range of time. A legend in the lower-left corner designates the likelihood of precipitation (chance versus likely) as well as the precipitation type (snow, rain, mix, thunder, etc.). Nevertheless, the isobaric forecast along with high and low pressure centers and a forecast for the position of surface fronts will continue to be issued by the same meteorologists at the WPC.
Legacy prog charts (left) are being replaced with the new NDFD Progs (right).
For better or for worse?
It goes without saying that not every change is necessarily an improvement. It’s not that the other precipitation forecasts were bad; however, given that the precipitation forecast on this new chart is generated by meteorologists at the local forecast offices, it will be more consistent with the terminal forecasts (TAFs) and the local weather forecasts from weather.gov since the TAFs and local weather forecasts are issued by those same local meteorologists. Perhaps the biggest drawback of the new imagery is that the precipitation forecast now ends at the U.S. border although the isobaric forecast and forecast for surface fronts will still cross over into Canada, Mexico and coastal waters.
Here’s what we did in ForeFlight
Given that the legacy prog charts are no longer issued, we’ve moved the new prog charts from their initial home under the NDFD Progs collection to the Prog Charts collection where they will replace their legacy counterparts. Note that the extended forecast progs (Day 3 through Day 7) located in the Prog Charts collection will not be affected.
The result in ForeFlight is a single prog chart collection consisting of the latest surface analysis, new NDFD progs (6 to 60 hours) and the extended progs (Day 3 through Day 7).
The second phase of our ForeFlight Connect integration with Garmin avionics is complete and you can now seamlessly transfer your flight plan between ForeFlight Mobile and Garmin GTN and GNS navigators when connected via the Garmin Flight Stream 210, Garmin’s Bluetooth wireless gateway, making everything from pre-flight planning to inflight re-routing easier and faster.
Get in the Air Faster
ForeFlight pilots can load a simple route, as well as approaches, SIDs, STARs, routes with airways, and search and rescue patterns. ForeFlight Mobile also receives route changes you make on the Garmin navigator, keeping your panel and iOS device in sync.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Coupled with ForeFlight Web, connectivity with your Garmin panel creates a true web-to-panel flight planning experience. Plan your day’s flight from the comfort of your desktop web browser and then ForeFlight’s secure, cloud-based Sync system sends your web planning activity to your iPad. The seamless handoff allows you to pick up and finish your plan on the iPad and send it to your panel. In the air, the combination of ForeFlight and Flight Stream enables you—or your co-pilot—to quickly set up and program a new route if you need to divert.
ForeFlight Mobile has coded procedures, so creating complex routes with SID, STAR, and approach waypoints is easy and intuitive using Procedure Preview. The flight plan transfer capability with Garmin means that you don’t have to waste time rebuilding that route in the navigator—sitting in the airplane, on the ground, engine running.
Another example of how ForeFlight Mobile and Garmin flight plan transfer combine to make pilot life easier is to file your flight plan from the app. If you are a ForeFlight Mobile Pro customer, we push expected route notifications to your device. With a tap, load expected route changes into your Navlog, re-file the amendment from ForeFlight Mobile, and then at the airplane send your expected route to your panel before taking off.
Getting in the air faster is also mission critical to search and rescue operations. ForeFlight Mobile’s Procedure Preview is a time-saving tool for building search and rescue patterns. Use ForeFlight’s wireless sharing capability or email to share and brief the plan with other members of the search team and then quickly transfer the route plan, with the SAR pattern, into your Garmin navigator.
The Flight Stream 210’s built-in AHRS also provides pitch and bank information for ForeFlight’s Synthetic Vision and backup attitude displays, and a connected GDL 84/88 rounds out the experience by delivering ADS-B traffic and weather information to your iPad display.
How It Works
Simply pair your iPad or iPhone via Bluetooth to Garmin Flight Stream:
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Tap the ‘Panel’ button at the top of the Maps view and then tap ‘Send to Panel’. This sends the route currently displayed in the Navlog to your Garmin navigator.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
To manually pull an updated or new route from your Garmin navigator, select ‘Load from Panel’. The ‘Auto-Receive from Panel’ setting automatically sends a notification when changes are made in the navigator, allowing you to keep your panel avionics and mobile app on the same page:
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
You can also see more information by viewing the Connext Status page in More > Devices:
Do you know what to do if you are intercepted by NORAD? No one plans to bust a TFR or wander into Restricted Airspace unannounced, but as PIC you should be familiar with intercept procedures just in case it happens to you. AOPA created a helpful Safety Card which provides flight planning tips for TFR avoidance and a quick reference guide on how to safely comply with standard NORAD / FAA intercept procedures. You can download the guide in the ForeFlight Mobile Documents view:
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Or you can also download the guide here.
A new Houston Sectional is available to download for the September 17, 2015 — March 3, 2016 period. This update adds West Houston Airport (KIWS) to the sectional and addresses an FAA Safety Alert.
All customers will be prompted to download this update inside of ForeFlight Mobile.
It’s early in the morning and you’re preparing to depart on an IFR flight out of Asheville (KAVL) in western North Carolina. While finishing your breakfast you open up the ForeFlight Mobile app, insert your favorite route to your destination and tap the little suitcase to pack all of the current charts, NOTAMs, fuel prices and latest weather for your flight. While ForeFlight is packing everything that you need (love that feature!), you decide to take a peek at the latest terminal forecast for Asheville (below) and see something that doesn’t look too appealing – WS020/07040KT; ForeFlight translates this initial part of the TAF to a forecast for wind shear. Ugh!
A terminal forecast for non-convective low-level wind shear (LLWS) as shown in ForeFlight.
So you tap on the Imagery tab and select the Graphical AIRMETs collection and see under Tango a forecast for low-level wind shear (LLWS) covering a large area from the panhandle of Maryland southwest to northern Georgia as shown below. This area impacts a good portion of your proposed route including your departure out of Asheville. Now what? Cancel the flight since you don’t want to be fooling around with wind shear in the mountains? Perhaps, but let’s take a closer look at this particular forecast and what it really means.
A forecast for non-convective low-level wind shear (LLWS) issued by the Aviation Weather Center in the form of a Graphical AIRMET (G-AIRMET). The actual magnitude of the wind shear or direction is not provided in the G-AIRMET.
Both of these forecasts identify the potential for non-convective low-level wind shear (LLWS). This is perhaps the most misunderstood weather forecasts in aviation. Pilots hear the term wind shear and immediately equate this to severe turbulence. It is not a forecast for turbulence per se and is definitely not the same wind shear you might experience in and around areas of convection since it has nothing to do with thunderstorms. So now that we know what it is not, let’s dig a bit deeper.
Define, please?
Wind shear is defined as a marked change of wind speed and/or wind direction over a horizontal plane or within a vertical depth of the atmosphere. When the wind shear occurs near the surface, it is referred to as low-level wind shear and abbreviated LLWS. Non-convective LLWS as it appears in a TAF or within AIRMET Tango (also G-AIRMETs) is primarily a form of vertical speed shear. That is, the wind is forecast to rapidly increase with height within the wind shear layer. In addition, winds may also change direction with increasing altitude within the wind shear layer – although it is primarily a forecast for a change in wind speed.
Decode, please?
Here’s the pertinent part of the coded Asheville TAF shown above:
01008KT 6SM -SHRA BR OVC015 WS020/07040KT
Decoded, this TAF suggests that between 1200 and 1600 UTC the surface winds will be 010 degrees (true) at 8 knots with a visibility of 6 statute miles with light rain showers and mist and an overcast ceiling of 1,500 feet. Easy so far? Now the confusing part. The WS code following all of this translates to non-convective low-level wind shear. The 020 following the WS code defines the depth of the wind shear layer which is 2,000 feet above ground level (AGL) in this case. Two thousand feet is the maximum depth forecast, but you may also see 005 (500 feet), 010 (1,000 ft) or 015 (1,500 ft). But it’s also acceptable to see 018 representing an 1,800 ft depth to the wind shear layer.
The remainder of the code following the forward slash defines the wind speed and direction at the top of the wind shear layer. Therefore, 07040KT translates to a wind direction of 070 degrees (true) at 40 knots at 2,000 feet AGL. Putting it all together, the winds are expected to increase rapidly from 8 knots at the surface to 40 knots at 2,000 feet AGL. This forecast also implies that winds will also shift direction from 010 degrees at the surface to 070 degrees at 2,000 feet although there’s no way to know how or where the shift occurs within the wind shear layer. Now that you are an expert decoder of the wind shear forecast in a TAF, what does it mean to you as a pilot?
Meaning, please?
As mentioned earlier, this is not a forecast for severe turbulence as many pilots might have been taught. Forecast or not, it is a common phenomenon and you may have flown through it and did not even know it was there. In fact, in the evening and overnight hours a nocturnal temperature inversion is often the catalyst for non-convective LLWS to evolve. In the nocturnal flavor of non-convective LLWS, the sky is often clear and the winds at the surface are usually light or calm. But the air in the wind shear layer remains glassy smooth. The only thing you may notice is a change of groundspeed as you penetrate the layer.
Essentially, non-convective LLWS is a river of faster flowing air just above the surface whether it occurs during the day or night. More often than not, a surface-based temperature inversion is present and as mentioned above is the primary catalyst for this form of wind shear. Normally the temperature decreases with increasing altitude. However, with an inversion the temperature actually increases with height through some depth. Meteorologists call this a negative lapse rate. The more negative the lapse rate, the more stable the atmosphere. A stable atmosphere resists or inhibits upward or downward motion keeping the potential wind shear layer near the surface from mixing. No mixing yields no turbulence.
Profile view from the ILS approach to runway 7 at Rockford, Illinois.
Beware on approach
Even though the air may be glassy smooth, imagine the case where you are flying an instrument approach with this kind of wind shear in place. Even if the wind doesn’t change direction in the wind shear layer, you will still have to contend with the change of wind speed that is increasing rapidly with height from the surface. If the wind is right off your nose and you are flying an ILS, for example, you will notice as you intercept the localizer around 2,000 ft AGL your groundspeed will be abnormally low (you have a 40 knot headwind in the case for Asheville). As you begin to track the glideslope, your groundspeed will increase since the headwind is decreasing in the descent. This means you’ll have to increase your rate of descent to keep the glideslope needle centered.
You can also imagine this being a tailwind or a direct crosswind while on the approach. So you have be constantly changing the descent rate or heading (crab angle) into the wind. Keep in mind that non-convective LLWS comes in all shapes and sizes. There’s not a one size fits all method to handle this. In most cases, this form of wind shear is not something you should fear, but it’s something you definitely need to manage. It is probably present more than it’s forecast.
Stay tuned
Besides the shear in the overnight hours discussed above, non-convective LLWS may be associated with the following: frontal passage, lee side mountain effect, sea breeze front and Santa Ana winds just to name a few. In a future blog I will discuss the meteorology behind non-convective LLWS and provide some background when this phenomenon can become dangerous.
The October 15 Taxi Diagrams and Terminal Procedures also include 118 new Department of National Defense (DND) Aerodrome and Heliport Charts, Departures and Procedures.
On October 15, 2015 at 0901 UTC, the Medicine Hat VOR (YXH) in Canada will be decommissioned. This affects routes that include J477 past the US/Canadian border. Flight plans using this airway to fly into Canada will be rejected upon filing. To compensate, a new waypoint called OTVUK will be established October 15th on the US/Canada border where J477 previously crossed it. Pilots can file direct from GGW to this or other waypoints such as VESDO or TOVUM when flying into Canada.
The NavCanada notice of this change can be found here.
This week Team ForeFlight heads to the second annual FLYING Aviation Expo in Palm Springs, California. Janessa and Thomas will be on hand in the ForeFlight booth (#715), ready to demonstrate all of the latest ForeFlight features, offer tips and tricks to make you a ForeFlight super-user, and answer any how-to questions you may have.
Thomas is presenting our ForeFlight 201—Advanced Flying with ForeFlight seminar each day of the show. This presentation is an advanced, scenario-based course and you will learn how to use the app to its fullest from planning to inflight navigation.
ForeFlight 201 Seminar Schedule:
Thursday, October 15 at 4:00pm in Room Primrose A
Friday, October 16 at 10:00am in Room Primrose A
Saturday, October 17 at 11:30am in Room Primrose A
ForeFlight Pro Canada subscribers now have access to the full Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) aeronautical data. This includes 118 new DND aerodrome and heliport charts, departures, and procedures, all accessible in ForeFlight Mobile from the Plates view or from the Airports view under the Procedures tab. These charts are not currently geo-referenced, but will be made so in the near future.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Canadian DND helicopter approach plate for Pembroke, ON.
Additionally, there is a new DND section in the Nav Canada portion of the ForeFlight Mobile Documents catalog that includes the Canadian Forces Flight Supplement, the Government Publication Handbook (GPH) 204A: Flight Planning and Procedures Document, and the GPH 204B: Glossary for Pilots.
The DND charts are automatically delivered via the normal 28-day update cycle and ForeFlight Pro Canada customers have access now with the October 15 update.
Updated Visual Navigation Charts are now available for Coats Island, Inukjuak, and Whitehorse for our ForeFlight Mobile Pro Canada customers. An updated version of the FAA’s Instrument Procedures Handbook is also available in our Documents Catalog.
All customers will be prompted to download these updates inside of ForeFlight Mobile.