Thunderstorm weather avoidance and working with ATC

Thunderstorms: BAD! Stay Away! Don't rely on ATC to keep you away from them.

That's what I got out of it.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
Repeat after me:

NEXRAD is for strategic planning, and is NOT airborne thunderstorm detection or penetration gear like airborne radar or a Stormscope.


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This. Even better than airborne radar are your own two eyes. If you're VMC trying to dodge the stuff, just aim for the bright spots.
 
cmill said:
This. Even better than airborne radar are your own two eyes. If you're VMC trying to dodge the stuff, just aim for the bright spots.
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I have radar at work now, but I'm very displeased when I have to rely on it instead of my eyes.
 
Personally, I prefer a strikefinder to radar. Radar return = precip, convective activity or not. Lightning = convective activity
 
Hammertime said:
Personally, I prefer a strikefinder to radar. Radar return = precip, convective activity or not. Lightning = convective activity
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I would personally put a strikefinder near the bottom of my list. Damaging areas of weather may not have significant lightning associated with them. The MkI Eyeball, backed up with proper knowledge of radar tilt/gain usage, is much more useful than a strikefinder, IMO.
 
Hammertime said:
Personally, I prefer a strikefinder to radar. Radar return = precip, convective activity or not. Lightning = convective activity
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In my short experience with onboard radar, it didn't work so well in the Rockies. It painted the whole mountain and was pretty useless.
 
dasleben said:
I would personally put a strikefinder near the bottom of my list. Damaging areas of weather may not have significant lightning associated with them. The MkI Eyeball, backed up with proper knowledge of radar tilt/gain usage, is much more useful than a strikefinder, IMO.
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this! Hugely.

And you can only really learn it by experience.


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NEXRAD is for long term, strategic planning. I'd never consider trying to pick my way around cells with only NEXRAD. Strikefinders are a useful backup to on-board radar, but unless I've got good, functioning, on-board radar, I'm going way around this stuff.
 
I find strikefinders really helpful.

I was ferrying a flight in a King Air that only had a strike finder, along with someone in another King Air that only had on-board radar.

For me I had to go well west of my planned route to avoid the strikes displayed on my strike finder. Although I was in moderate rain, It really was a smooth flight. My partner on the other hand reported to me on the radio that my path led through some pretty serious weather according to his radar, so he was going to continue on his planned route. When he both landed he reported some moderate/severe turbulence, and his cockpit was a mess. I had a mostly smooth flight.
 
Over my short career of flying freight in the turbine powered 182 I have evolved from "I'm a freight dog now, I have radar and these thunderstorms in Texas can't be worse than the stuff we dodged in Colorado." To "help me mommy, I am being thrown about by an angry god!" To my current more nuanced: "green is okay, yellow is not!"

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