Flight Training - November 2014 - 41

planning tool on your mobile device, many apps will allow you
to select an overlay that displays fuel prices at airports.) You
also may need to change plans based on unforecast weather
or surface winds that exceed your personal minimums at your
destination, cutting your flight leg short, or finding an alternate
airport with runways better aligned to the wind. For example,
your planned fuel stop might be 200 miles away, but weather
along the route is questionable. You can plan an intermediate
stop to re-check the weather. If the need arises to land short to
reevaluate the situation en route, contact flight service over the
radio to amend your flight plan or notify air traffic control of
your change in plans if you are receiving VFR flight following.
You've practiced diversions before, so it's nothing new. If you
set out with an attitude of flexibility, you'll be less likely to suffer
from "get-there-itis" and be all the more prepared to make that
decision to divert.
5. WEATHER INFORMATION ON BOARD can be an excellent

resource to enhance your situational awareness en route. Using
on-board weather should be just that-an enhancement, not
a replacement to your other resources, and it never should be
used to skirt perilously close to weather like thunderstorms.
(Pilots should always stay at least 20 miles from a thunder-

storm.) Some rental aircraft are equipped with glass cockpits
and weather subscriptions. Make sure you have been thoroughly checked out in using the equipment, and work with an
instructor to ensure you understand all of the weather information you're seeing and how best to use it to keep you safe. (Do
you understand how old the information you're seeing is? It
may be older than you realize.)
Portable devices also can bring weather into the cockpit. Some
devices, including Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast
receivers and XM Weather receivers, work with flight planning
apps that can be purchased and downloaded on an iPad. They
will allow you to overlay the weather display on your charts on
your device. If you can't pull up and accurately interpret the data,
it won't do you much good.
By using all available resources, such as HIWAS, METARs,
TAFs, thorough preflight briefings, and in-cockpit weather (when
available), you can form a better weather picture during your
epic flight, helping to ensure the trip remains epic because of the
amount of fun you had on the trip-not because of the weather
encounters you experienced.
Alyssa J. Miller, AOPA director of eMedia and online managing editor, is an
active CFI who owns a Cessna 170.

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Flight Training - November 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - November 2014