Baller-Cheat-Sheet - Cheat Sheet PDF

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Summary

Flying weather themes CLOUDS/CEILING: Cold fronts Convective clouds or cumuliform clouds (Cu) look like stacks of cotton balls, and are associated with updrafts. From increasing heigh; (“cumulus” humilis, mediocris, congestus, cumulumonimbus) Warm fronts Layer clouds or stratiform clouds (St) look l...

Description

Flying weather themes CLOUDS/CEILING: Cold fronts Convective clouds or cumuliform clouds (Cu) look like stacks of cotton balls, and are associated with updrafts. From increasing heigh; (“cumulus” humilis, mediocris, congestus, cumulumonimbus) Warm fronts Layer clouds or stratiform clouds (St) look like sheets or blankets that can extend hundreds of kilometers horizontally (nimbostratus = precipitating, stratus isn’t, from increasing height: stratus-nimbostratus, altostratus/cumulus, cirrostratus/cumuls, cirrus). Clouds in unstable air aloft: castellanus — Look like small castle turrets. Are a clue that the atmosphere is becoming unstable; thunderstorms possible later in the day. Billow (K-H wave) clouds — Indicate wind shear (change of wind speed or direction) and clear-air turbulence (CAT) at aircraft altitudes. Clouds associated with strong winds across mountain: lenticular (mountain-wave) clouds — (standing waves) Indicate vertical wind oscillations and possible mountain-wave turbulence. Sailplanes like the updraft portion of the waves, allows them to surf wave & fly very long horizontal distances. Commercial aircraft hate them bc. It means a very bumpy ride at all altitudes for the whole time while flying over the mountains. Rotor clouds — Indicate severe or extreme turbulence at low altitudes due to mountain waves. The rotors can break off aircraft wings and cause pilots to lose control of their aircraft during take-off and landing. Banner clouds — Form on downwind side of mountain peak. Indicate strong turbulence touching the downwind side of a tall, isolated mountain peak. Clouds formed by extra heat, updrafts, or turbulence: pyrocumulus — Form over forest fires and volcanoes. pileus — Form over fast-growing cumulus clouds. Don't affect flying, sailing or snow sports. fractus / scud — Form in turbulent humid air near the ground. These scud clouds indicate high humidity Clouds formed by humans fumulus — Water-droplet clouds over cooling towers. Harmless for flying, sailing, or snow sports. contrails — Aircraft condensation trail. Indicate the turbulent wing-tip vortices behind aircraft. Small aircraft can be flipped upside down if they accidently fly into a wing-tip vortex. Military pilots hate contrails, because they reveal the aircraft to the enemy. The fraction of the sky covered by cloud is called sky cover, cloud cover, or cloud amount. Measured in eights (oktas) according to (WMO). 0/8=Clear skies, 1-2-Few clouds, 3-4=scattered, 5-7=broken, 8 overcast, unknown=obscured. Cloud Ceiling is the height (AGL) of the lowest cloud base (bottom of the cloud) that is below 20,000 ft (6,000 m) that is covering more than half the sky (lowest broken or overcast). Transmissometers (measure visibility) shine an incident light beam across a known path length to measure how much dimmer the received light is compared to when the air is clean. (Celings measured) by laser ceilometers, celing balloons, pilot reports, and weather-observer estimates. For busy airports, sometimes these automated visibility sensors are installed close to a runway to measure runway visual range (RVR). In obsurcation conditions ceiling = indefinite, and vertical visibility is used for ceiling. VISIBILITY (FOG)/ FLYING CONDITIONS/ OBSCUCATIONS Visibility: - Horizontal Visibility: How far away you can see a black object during daytime or how far away you can see a bright light at night. If visibility is poor, pilots will have difficulty seeing; ground landmarks for navigation, other aircraft or obstacles, the horizon to keep plane level, the runway- Runway Visual Range: How far ahead a pilot can see along a runway centerline- Vertical Visibility: The height of the cloud base above ground defines the ceiling altitude. Flight Regulations- Visual Flight Rules(VFR): You can fly mostly by looking out the window, and needs good visibility and stay out of the clouds, by looking you can; navigate, control the aircraft, and find airports and land on runway. Visual Meteorological Conditions(VMC): Name given to weather that is good enough to fly VFR. When pilots who fly VFR accidently fly into the clouds pilots are not able to determine if the aircraft is right-side up, Pilots lose track of where they are, Psychology is a factor, like panic. Rules for VFR: Can only fly VFR when the ceiling is >3000ft Abv. Ground Level AND Visibility is >5 Statute Miles. Marginal Visual Flight Rules(MVFR): Conditions where VFR is allowed but for which visibility is poo. Rules for MVFR: Ceiling must be between 1000ft & 3000ft, and/or visibility must be between 3&5 SM Instrument Flight Rules(IFR): You can conduct most of the flight by not looking out the window, instead you; navigate using onboard GPS map displays, control the aircraft by looking at the instruments on your dashboard, get to airports by following instructions and ATC. Rules for IFR: Ceiling can be...