Aviation Weather: Meteorological Aviation Routine Report (METAR)

I promised you last Friday that I would write about one of the aviation weather products this week. There is one type of surface weather report that some of you may have seen on some weather sites on the internet, the METAR. METAR stands for Meteorological Aviation Routine Report. METARs, used worldwide, are coded reports with each country making modifications for use in their specific country.

Routine METARs are done on an hourly basis, usually at airports. Some METARs are done automatically (without the benefit of humans) and will include the code "AUTO". Other METARs are done for special weather reports and are labeled "SPECI". METAR's are but one of the sources of aviation weather information used by pilots as a part of their pre-flight planning and while enroute. I access METARs over the internet, which I'll get to in a moment, and most of the METARs that I have accessed are those done on an hourly basis.

Ok, I mentioned that METAR reports are coded, and I'll include an example in a moment along with a translation. You may have seen a METAR, perhaps on Intellicast Weather or Weather Underground, hopefully these links will take you directly to pages for Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, NJ where you can see the coded METAR. On Weather Underground, look for the METAR under current data on the left side of the page, they provide a nice METAR faq where you can go to learn about how to decode the METAR. The METAR on the intellicast website should be in the box labeled current conditions near the top left side of the page.

Here is a coded METAR and translation which I got using the form found on the  the NWS Aviation digital data website (note 1):

METAR (code) text: KEWR 291951Z 06008KT 2SM RA BR BKN010 OVC020 06/03 A3001 RMK AO2 SLP161 CIG 009V011 P0010 T00560033

TRANSLATION (note 2,3):
Conditions at: KEWR (NEWARK , NJ, US) observed 1951 UTC 29 February 2012
Temperature: 5.6°C (42°F)
Dewpoint: 3.3°C (38°F) [RH = 85%]
Pressure (altimeter): 30.01 inches Hg (1016.3 mb)
[Sea-level pressure: 1016.1 mb]
Winds: from the ENE (60 degrees) at 9 MPH (8 knots; 4.2 m/s)
Visibility: 2.00 miles (3.22 km)
Ceiling: 1000 feet AGL
Clouds: broken clouds at 1000 feet AGL
overcast cloud deck at 2000 feet AGL
Weather: RA BR  (rain, mist)

The coding in METARs take some getting used, and are covered in the FAA Private Pilot Exam. I like METARs and will look for METARs before I go on a scenic flight. Checking out the METARs are also an easy way to see weather conditions around my region.

Notes:
(1) This page is used to access both METARs and TAFs (Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts), a forecast for a five mile radius around the airport mentioned in the TAF. I'll cover those in a later article. Most of your major international airports in the US will have TAF reports for their terminal (5 mile radius) area.

(2) UTC stands for coordinated time universal or universal time. You may see UTC time referred to by the letter "Z" in coded reports such as the METAR above. UTC is also Greenwich Mean Time (obtained at the observatory in Greenwich England (near London). UTC time is used for all aviation weather information products, and takes a little getting used. If you want to know what UTC time is in your time zone, go to this website.

(3) The National Weather Service has a guide that may be found here that aids in translating the coding used in METARs and TAFs.

References:

U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Flight Standards Service. Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (2008), pp 12-6 to 12-8 obtained from this page on the FAA website where individual chapters may be downloaded. Chapter 12 is devoted to Aviation Weather Services.

U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service. U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration. Aviation Weather Services, Advisory Circular AC 00-45G (2011) obtained from the FAA, pp. 3-1 to 3-31.

Reflections on tanker availability

We are due to the enter the wildfire season with 11 heavy tankers, including Neptune's T-40 (BAe-146). As for the whereabouts of T-40, Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported in an article he posted yesterday (scroll to the bottom of the article).

Having heard nothing to the contrary, I assume that eight of Neptune's P-2s and Minden's two P-2's are ready to go when their respective contracted mandatory availability period starts. You may recall that Neptune Aviation found a wing crack in one of their Lockheed P-2V tankers and the FAA issued an Emergency Air Directive calling for inspections of all Lockheed P-2V tankers. As I understand it, Neptune's tanker with the cracked wing is undergoing repairs, with the rest of Neptune's P-2's (8) and Minden's two P-2s ready to go. That brings us to ten heavy tankers. Recall that the USFS terminated their contract with Aero Union last summer, grounding Aero Union's Lockheed P-3's.

Some of you might be wondering about the very large airtankers (the DC-10 tankers and Evergreen's Boeing 747 supertanker to be specific). Good question. Last year, the US Forest Service did not have exclusive use contracts for the DC-10 tankers or the 747 tanker. Instead, the USFS offered call when needed (CWN) contracts. Evergreen did not sign, Tanker 10 company (DC-10 tankers) did sign, see two articles by Bill Gabbert here for more information. What about this year? You'd think that given that we have fewer heavy tankers this year as compared with last year at this time (eight Aero Union P-3s and 11 P-2s, T-40 was not on contract until later in 2011) that the USFS will sign exclusive use contracts for the 747 super tanker (20,000 gallons of retardant) and the two DC-10 tankers (12,000 gallons of retardant). Not only do exclusive use contracts mean that these tankers are on call and available during the contract period, but exclusive use contracts offer make it financially worthwhile for the respective companies. CWN contracts only pay when the tankers see action, meaning that if they are not activated, the contractors are not paid. As far as I know the USFS has not offered exclusive use contracts for either tanker.

Coulson's Martin Mars is also a very large airtanker (VLAT). I don't quite recall if Coulson's Martin Mars tanker saw action in America last year, but I do believe that she flew in Mexico. And she has flown fires in California in past years, for example in 2009.

I know that we still have the single engine airtankers (SEATs) and a variety of helicopters including helitankers such as the Erickson AirCrane on various national contracts. All are valuable aerial firefighting resources, as are the various aerial firefighting resources that individual states contract for.

In addition, there are the MAFFs, and perhaps Canada will loan us some of their Convair 580s and CL-215/415 water scoopers later in the fire season as they did last summer, see another article by Bill Gabbert from last September on air tankers that were available last year.

And we do await news of the USFS RFP for next generation turbine tankers as reported here, but I have no idea whether the awarding of this contract will lead to more heavy tankers on contract during the 2012 fire season.

I don't know about you, but I will miss Aero Union's P-3s this fire season.

Reflections on aviation weather

I am sitting here on a windy day with sustained winds about 20 mph +/- and winds gusting to about 40 mph. For the record, I did not even think about going on a scenic flight today because it is way too windy for that. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I will be able to go on a scenic flight this weekend.

In the last two years that I have been going on my scenic flights, weather has taken on a whole new meaning for me. A whole new world opened up for me. I was thinking about winds and temperatures at altitude, they are not the same as on the ground. I learned about different aviation weather reports and forecasts, and reports of other significant meteorological events of importance to pilots.

An important part of the pre-flight planning that pilots go through before going on a flight is being knowledgeable about current and forecast weather conditions along their flight route including their point of departure and their destination. When I was in ground school we spent a couple of sessions on weather and as all as the sources of aviation weather information that pilots and others use both for pre-flight planning as well as obtaining weather information enroute.

My intention was and still is, to find a way to write about some of these sources of aviation weather information that I have been using for the last couple of years. But this is proving to be a difficult task because many of these aviation weather products are written in a form of code in the form of specific abbreviations. These "codes" were a little daunting when I first encountered them, but slowly I got used to them. A couple of my aviation books have tables deciphering these codes that I still refer to from time to time.

Last night I had intended to start posting about some of the different types of aviation weather information that are freely available. I spent a couple of hours on this earlier today. However I quickly realized that it was getting way to complicated and even my eyes were starting to roll. So, I decided to regroup and spend a little more time on this, and perhaps come up with some good free sources on the internet that those of you who are interested can look at.

So for those of you came today looking for something from me on some of the specific types of aviation weather information, I'm sorry to disappoint. But having spent a couple of hours on this task this morning, I hope that I might be able to have something for you in a week or so, depending.

Airtankers in Action: CA 2008

I continue to do some background work for upcoming articles. One of which will be an article on certain types of weather related advisories that pilots use called air and sigmets.

In the meantime stay safe and warm everyone. And enjoy this video, footage from Fire Pilots of tankers in action over CA wildfires (2008).

Reflections on not flying yesterday

When I last posted, I was planning on going a scenic flight yesterday. The flight did not happen and I did not do the dead reckoning calculations that I wrote about the other day. The long and the short if it is that it was too windy. But please bear with me while I elaborate a little on my thought process.

When I read the forecast for Tuesday late Sunday I knew that there was a chance of windy conditions that might make a flight in a Cessna trainer inadvisable. Then again, the forecast was only saying there was a chance. A chance of winds and an even smaller chance of rain showers.

Leave aside the winds for a moment. Temps in the high 30s and low 40s on the ground translated to temps at or below freezing aloft. Trust me on this, I read the winds and temps aloft grids. Temps at or below freezing aloft and the chance of rain. Means freezing rain aloft. Freezing rain and airplanes equal icing. Sometimes the outcome is not good.

Slight chance of showers equating to freezing rain at alitude. No thank-you.

The winds, that was interesting. Interesting because there was a chance that the forecast for the winds would not hold. The gusty winds could make a cross wind landing interesting. Perhaps not impossible but interesting. And the winds aloft would be stronger than on the ground. Winds at 12 kts on the ground gusting to 20. Winds aloft at the time of my flight forecast to be anywhere from 33 to 40 kts. And an equal chance that the winds would not be as forecast. What to do?

My scenic flight could wait. Even if my flight was that important, nothing is so important that it justifies flying when it is not safe to fly. I was prepared to cancel the scenic ride. Better to be safe than sorry. I am the passenger in this flight, I can decide to cancel. No reason for me to pressure the pilot.

I talked to someone at the airport a couple of hours later. He canceled the flight because if the forecast held, it would be too windy for the Cessna trainers. The forecast held, winds started to pick up an hour before they were forecast to pick-up.

And in case you are wondering, there may have been light rain showers yesterday. But the winds were gusting to 20 kts from the south. Which put the winds blowing directly across the main runway at the airport.

I'm glad that I was on the ground.

Scenic flights and other projects

It has been a while since I have written about my scenic flights here. On average it seems like I go on one scenic flight every three to five weeks. It is important for me to fly, to continue my aviation journeys in the ways that I can.

For example, I hope to go on scenic flight tomorrow, if the weather cooperates. And hopefully the weather will. But if the weather looks like it will be marginal visual flight rule (MVFR) weather or worse and not good for a visual flight rules flight then I won't go. I decided that I am going to plan a course using dead reckoning. I had to learn dead reckoning when I was studying for the FAA private pilot written exam two years ago. I figure that the number crunching will be a good exercise, perhaps the pilot will want to use my dead reckoning and perhaps he won't. But I'll get the practice crunching the numbers.

Dead reckoning according the Pilot/Controller Glossary in the 2012 FAR/AIM (note 1):

"Dead reckoning as applied to flying, is the navigation of an airplane solely by means of computations based on airspeed, course, heading, wind direction, and speed, ground speed, and elapsed time."

Most of my previous scenic flights over the last two years have been done where the pilot has used VOR navigation.

I also have a couple of other aviation related projects that I am working on. One involves reading and studying more about weather. Briefly, I'm reading a meteorology text called Meteorology Today by David Ahrens. I like this text, so far I am able to follow along (more or less) reading and studying on my own. Self study of a college level meteorology text may not be everyone's cup of tea.

If not there is another book on weather written for the general population called The Weather Book: An Easy-to_understand Guide to the USA's Weather by Jack Williams. Williams wrote the book based on his work for USA Today on their weather page, he is also a pilot.

Finally, I am always interested in issues affecting aviation safety, and am doing some background reading and research on aviation safety related topics for future blog posts.

And all this is in addition to writing on aerial wildland firefighting as we enter the late winter and spring fire season here in America.
________________________________

Note 1: 2012 FAR/AIM (Federal Aviation Regulations Aeronautical Information Manual). U.S. Department of Transportation: From titles 14 and 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Updated and published by Aviation Supplies and Academics, Inc. (ASA): New Castle, Washington.

Honey Prairie Fire Update - Feb 16

While I was out and about, so to speak, checking news on the web earlier today, I saw a reference on the Fire Publications Blog to an article updating the Honey Prairie Fire. What interested me is the report that no smoke had been observed for three weeks. So, I went to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge's Honey Prairie Fire Status Page to find out the latest, and found a press release dated Feb. 16, 2012 (pdf file). Here is an excerpt from this press release:

"No smoke has been seen in three weeks along the two mile perimeter where the Honey Prairie fire crept underground burning peat and roots in a hardwood swamp on the west side of the refuge. It is still too early to call the fire out since it is possible it could flare back up. According to refuge manager Curt McCasland, “We recently responded to a small fire on the east side of the refuge. Firefighters found a burning pile left over from an area burned in July.” He added, 'Given the ability of fire to smolder through the winter in the wood/debris pile, we will need to continue to monitor the fire perimeter and look for other areas where this may still be occurring.'"

Finally, I checked InciWeb for the latest status on the fire, here. As of today, Feb. 17 2012, the last inci web update was on Dec. 15, 2011 with the fire at 76% containment.

For the Tuskegee Airmen

I saw the movie Red Tails, a movie based on the story of the Tuskegee Airmen the first Black fighter squadron, last week. It was in its third week showing at the movie theaters, so I don't know if it still showing in a theater near you. If not, you might have to wait for the DVD to come out. Anyway, watching the movie gave me some motivation to go out and found some information about this famed WWII fighter squadron. There is a nice US Air Force tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen that I found on archive.org, I can no longer embed the video, but you may go to archive.org to watch the video. According to the information on archive.org, the video is in the public domain and available for download Plan on about 15 minutes to watch the video.

Take a few moments to listen to some of their stories which I found on the Tuskegee Airmen National Museum Webpage, more videos may be found there. Note the movie referred to by Claude C. Davis in the second video may be The Tuskegee Airmen (HBO, 1995):

More details on the wing crack in a P-2 tanker

Some of you might be interested in reading the article that Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today wrote last Saturday following up on the crack found in one of Neptune Aviation's P-2's. Bill reports on (and provides a link to) a news release from the American Helicopter and Aerial Firefighting Association where Dan Snyder of Neptune Aviation provides a little more detail on the process that Neptune went through after they discovered the wing skin crack.

USFS announces large air tanker replacement strategy

No doubt some of you already know that last Friday (Feb. 10, 2012) announced its strategy for replacing large airtankers. Perhaps you too follow Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today and have already read the article he wrote about the USFS strategy on Feb. 10, 2012. Those of you who haven't read Bill's article may want to do so.

According to the USFS news release announcing their strategy to replace large airtankers for wildfire efforts,

"Recommendations for the next generation of airtankers include:

• Capabilities of carrying a minimum of 1,800 gallons of mixed retardant with more than 3,000 gallons preferred.
• A minimum cruise speed of 345 mph for quick fire response over long distance.
• Powering by turbine engines, which are more reliable, more fuel efficient, and require less maintenance than older aircraft piston engines.
• Capabilities of operating from most federal airtanker bases.
• Forest Service contract structural integrity program requirements must be met."

I know of two media reports on the USFS strategy, one from the Washington Post on Feb. 11 that I learned about from Bill Gabbert's article written earlier today. I'd like to thank some friends who made me aware of an article in the Missoulian on Feb. 11.

We will have to wait and see how the USFS implements this new strategy. You may recall that the USFS has an RFP for turbine tankers with submission date of Feb. 15, 2012. That is in two days. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for news and will report back, so stay tuned.

Reduction in NJFFS contract fixed wing aircraft

Some of you who have checked my blog within the last two weeks may have already seen the NJ Forest Fire Service (NJFFS)  2012 Spring Fixed Wing Contract Schedule. I'll repeat it here for purposes of simplicity.

Division A North
Alpha 2 - AgCat 300 based at Aeroflex Airport - 3/26-5/4
Alpha 3 - AgCat 300 based at Aeroflex Aorport- 4/7-4/21
Division B Central
Bravo 1 - Air Tractor 602 based at Coyle Field 3/31-5/7
Division C South
Charlie 1 - Air Tractor 602 based at Downstown Airport 3/30-5/6

If you have been following my blog for a year or more, then you might be thinking that there are fewer SEATs on contract this year. And you will be right.  I can only speak for NJFFS fixed wing (SEATs) contract aircraft going back to 2009, the year that I started writing about aerial wildland firefighting on this blog.

If you check out the links at the end of this article, you will see that for the 2009 through 2011 fire season there were two SEATs on contract in each of the three NJFFS Divisions for periods ranging from 33 to 44 days, give or take. There may have been a seventh on a short term contract, e.g. an AgCat was on a five day contract in Division C in 2011.

I don't have information to link to on contract aircraft prior to 2009. But there is an article from 1999 on Downstown Air in the September 1999 edition of Ag Air Update. In 2009 this article was still available on the archives of Ag Air Update. This article has been removed from the Ag Air Update website so it is no longer available on the internet, but I did take some notes. Downstown has provided fixed wings (SEATs) to the NJ Forest Fire Service under contract going back to 1969. In addition to reading that the NJFFS first contracted with Downstown in 1969, the article made reference to Downstown contracting with the NJFFS for nine AgCat bi-planes (eight of their own plus one they leased) and a Dromader that floating between bases as needed.

So the 1999 article on Downstown tells me that there were as many as ten fixed wings under contract with the NJ Forest Fire Service in the late 1990s.  I don't know about the number of SEATs on contract in New Jersey between 1999 and 2008, but I can speak to the last three years (2009-11). That is during each of the last three years there were six fixed-wing (SEAT) aircraft under contract during the spring fire season with a possible seventh on a short term contract. Look at the coming fire season where we will have one fixed-wing (SEAT) in each division during the spring fire season with a fourth on a fourteen day contract in Division A.

Six or seven fixed-wings on a NJFFS contract down to three or four on a NJFFS contract in 2012.

Three or four SEATs are not enough.

NJFFS 2009 SEAT contracts
NJFFS 2010 SEAT contracts
NJFFS 2011 SEAT contracts

Revised March 20, 2014

Lockheed P-2V tanker inspections - update

I reported yesterday on the crack in the wing skin on one of Neptune Aviation's tankers and the FAA EAD. I just read an article from The Missoulian The Missoulian reporting on the crack in the wing skin on one of Neptune's tankers, the FAA Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD), and the required inspections. That article, written today (2/9/2012), may be found here.

Updated Feb. 10, 2012: Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported yesterday (Feb. 9, 2012) that Neptunes and Minden's P-2's passed the FAA mandated inspections. The Neptune P-2 with the cracked wing skin is being repaired.

Lockheed P-2s to undergo inspections under FAA EAD

A few hours ago I got word that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued what is known as an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD) (go here to download a copy) requiring inspections of all Lockheed P2V aircraft including but not limited to the 9 P-2 tankers owned by Neptune Aviation and the 2 P-2 tankers owned by Minden Air. Apparently Neptune found a 24 inch crack on the wing skin of one of their tankers.

The EAD calls for inspections of all the P-2s within one day after the operators received the EAD. The operators then have ten days to report back to the FAA on the results of the inspections, whether the results be favorable or unfavorable.

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reports here on the inspections.

At this time, we will have to wait and see how all this shakes out.

Dromader crash in So. Africa pilot ok

I heard from a couple of sources, including this wildland fire hotlist thread that a Dromader (SEAT) loaded with fuel and water crashed soon after take-off in South Africa. Reports are that the pilot, who was airlifted to a hospital, is ok. The Dromader was one of the aircraft fighting a fire known as the Veldfires near Stanford, South Africa. More information may be found here.

Honey Prairie Fire still burning after 9 months

It has been awhile since I have written about the Honey Prairie Fire, you may recall that I first wrote about that fire in May 2011, with updates in June 2011, and reported that the NJ Forest Fire Service sent a crew to help out with the fire last June, see this article. I embedded some videos from youtube showing fire ops at the fire in July 2011. My last update was in late-Sept. 2011 when the fire had burned over 308,00 acres and was at 76% containment.

I was curious about what was happening with the fire, so I went and checked inciweb today. According the last update on inciweb (Dec 15, 2011), available here, the Honey Prairie Fire has burned over 309,000 acres since it started from a lightening strike in late April 2011. The fire is remains at 76% containment, and as of mid-December  2011,12 firefighters were assigned to the fire. Quoting from the Dec. 15, 2011 inciweb update:

The Honey Prairie Continues to burn deep down into the dry peat on the west side of the refuge. .... There is no visible flame but is still smoking. ... The water table needs to come up high enough to extinguish the fire. The US Drought Monitor indicates that the area remains in severe drought. In the last 30 days, a weather station near the fire recorded 2.6 inches of rainfall.

As you can see from the graphic below, the drought is still persisting in much of Georgia. Note to that drought persists in Texas where massive wildfires burned last summer. Droughts are developing in southern CA and portions of the southwest. I'll write a little more about droughts on Wednesday.

obtained from http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/seasonal_drought.html on Feb. 6, 2012

More info on the Honey Prairie Fire on the web:
Inciweb page on the Honey Prairie Fire
USFWS - Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge -- Honey Prairie Complex Fires
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on Facebook (public)

DC-6 Conair T-50 take-off

Florida wildfires

Flordia holds a special place in my heart so my thoughts always turn to Florida at this time of year because winter often means wildfires. Action newsJax reports here about the increased fire danger so far this year. According to the Florida Forest Fire Service Wildfire Information Page from Jan 1, 2012 through Jan 29, 2012 there have been 402 state wildfires (5510 acres burned) and 16 federal wildfires (3,757 acres burned).

Many of you have probably heard about the 10 deaths from automobile crashes attributed to fog and smoke, Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported on this here, and here is an article from the Palm Beach Daily News on the automobile crashes highlighting the wildfire threat in Florida.

I embedded a map from the folk at ERSI. This should be a customized link to the map embedded above which I obtained about 6:45 PM today (Feb. 1, 2012). As I write this, there are three larger fires in Florida, and another in Oklahoma. To be honest, I am not quite sure if the image I embedded is static or changes over time. So, perhaps you are seeing something different from what I am writing about. In any event, it is a nice resource. Clicking on the fire icon should give you information about the fire.
The Florida Forest Fire Service has their own fire mapping system that may be accessed here.

I'll be checking in on wildfire activity in Florida from time to time, so stay tuned.