Getting Weather Reports

In the UK pilots can get weather reports before flying from a number of sources. Airline Pilots are given the weather reports for the flight by their Operations Room when signing on duty. in some cases this is sent to a hotel for the pilot.. Weather can be found also on many internet sites. However once airborne weather reports can still be obtained on route from the Flight Information Services or any radar unit.

 There are also Frequencies called  VOLMET. This gives the weather for a group of airports in an area allover the world . These are updated every 30 minutes unless severe weather is happening then they may be more frequent. at Major Airports the weather can be obtained by tuning up a VOR and switching the voice mode on. This will give the weather for the airfield in an ATIS broadcast format.. IE Mayfield VOR for Gatwick each time the weather is updated it will  letter identify . The pilot on first contact with Approach Control will tell the Controller the identifying letter. The controller will then know whether the pilot has the latest information.

At none busy airports the pilot will obtain the wether from the ATC controllers ten minutes before entering the zone. On crossing the Atlantic HF radio broadcasts various Volmet Areas at Different times. These times can be obtained on the back of the Atlantic Charts. 

As technology develops this can be sent to the pilot by datalink to the ACARS system on the aircraft from a company office.

Clouds are given as Few ,Scattered, Broken or Overcast. and the Cloudbase Height. They may also be given as OCTAS.( means as a score of 8) 3 octas means three eighths cloud  5 octas means 5 eighths  cloud . The one the pilot likes is CAVOK  as this means clear skies.

No SIG means no significant changes. SNOWCLO means the airport is closed due to drifting snow. Fog we described in its own section.

 We hope that has helped you understand the weather and reports system and that completes the Weather Course

Your comments on the course would be appreciated in the Guest Book.

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