Anyone in 121 using ADS-B?

Box hauler

Box hauler

Well-Known Member
Just wondering if any airline peeps on here use something like a Stratus for nexrad radar? Now that they have stuff like echo tops and turbulence reports it seems like a nice tool for extra situational awareness.
 
My last job was 121 where we used Stratus in every airplane, linked to the iPads. It was very nice. The only annoyance is that each stratus would have a different wifi SSID so you had to manually connect every time you changed airplanes. Fortunately for me that was only about 2 or 3 times a year.
 
Allowing Stratus/Stratux was discussed at my company, but was decided against. In the "wow, I'm surprised the agreed to allow that bucket" we can now use personal GPS devices to attach to our iPads (to make Jepp app more accurate).

Standards only wants guys to use legal (Ops Spec Approved) weather sources to make operational decisions, so that's why we aren't allowed to use them here.
 
AAPalmTree said:
Most of us don’t even know how many lavs are on the plane let alone avionics mumbo-jumbo specifics.
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I seriously didn’t for a while. We changed the config of our 321’s, once we started getting new ones. Same with our 20’s. We added 4 seats which changed the back galley. FA were moaning about something, I dunno, I just asked for more water bottles.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Don't you guys have iPads with WSI that updates with onboard WiFi?
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Yes..it's a great tool.

It only works over the CONUS, while probably 25% of the time we're out of range in the islands somewhere. The new satellite (Viasat) should be operational later this year bringing all the islands into coverage.
 
Baronman said:
Yes..it's a great tool.

It only works over the CONUS, while probably 25% of the time we're out of range in the islands somewhere. The new satellite (Viasat) should be operational later this year bringing all the islands into coverage.
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Even then, you can't get echo tops out there. Best thing we've got is a low resolution SatRad picture.
 
I've only had mixed success getting an ADS-B signal in the cockpit to drive a Stratus/Stratux. Worked great on an EMB-145 - not so much on a CRJ-700 or 319/320/321. I found it wasn't reliable enough for consistent use.

Yeah had no clue about the flight attendants either, when I told them, hey yall need to take your seats, there's going to be turbulence ahead. Well there are no flight attendant jumpseats in the aft galley in flight, so there's no place for the FAs to sit until it's time to land.
 
Nark said:
I seriously didn’t for a while. We changed the config of our 321’s, once we started getting new ones. Same with our 20’s. We added 4 seats which changed the back galley. FA were moaning about something, I dunno, I just asked for more water bottles.
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Someone asked me what "SF" stood for in "A320SF" - me: "Uh...dunno?"
 
woodreau said:
I've only had mixed success getting an ADS-B signal in the cockpit to drive a Stratus/Stratux. Worked great on an EMB-145 - not so much on a CRJ-700 or 319/320/321. I found it wasn't reliable enough for consistent use.

Yeah had no clue about the flight attendants either, when I told them, hey yall need to take your seats, there's going to be turbulence ahead. Well there are no flight attendant jumpseats in the aft galley in flight, so there's no place for the FAs to sit until it's time to land.
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Where are they supposed to sit?

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
 
If I did it, in a plane with no WiFi, I’d probably go with a scout and foreflight. I’d imagine it’s good for long range planning, not up close.
 
I had one good example of it being very useful. While in cruise out of range of the ATIS, we noticed that the airport had gone from clear and a million to fogged in, unforecast, of course. Noticing this through the stratus in advance of receiving the ATIS gave us that much time to plan and prepare for the unexpected weather and approach.
 
trafficinsight said:
Where are they supposed to sit?

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
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Autothrust Blue said:
How is that legal?
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I guess in the space flex 320s the Jumpseat folds and stows away giving access to the aft lavs just like the CRJ-700/900s when the lav is in the CRJ cargo compartment. After takeoff above 10000ft the aft galley flight attendants stow the Jumpseat and no longer have a place to sit. The FAs aren’t very fond of the spaceflex galley layout from what I understand.

nibake said:
I had one good example of it being very useful. While in cruise out of range of the ATIS, we noticed that the airport had gone from clear and a million to fogged in, unforecast, of course. Noticing this through the stratus in advance of receiving the ATIS gave us that much time to plan and prepare for the unexpected weather and approach.
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When I did get an ads-b signal in the flight deck it was actually pretty useful to be able to set up the map to display IFR/VFR airports. You could see at a glance by colored airport dots which airports over a wide area had VFR weather without having to pull atis from each individual airport.
 
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