Weather Brief ?

bc2209

bc2209

Well-Known Member
From day one of training I have been told that Aviation Weather Center, https://www.aviationweather.gov/, is not an approved source for a briefing.

So far I've come up with this.

AWC is not an approved source for 121 and commercial operations.

It also sounds like that Part 91 is free range in regards to how you obtain your weather brief.

Thoughts?
 
Not necessarily the case. I'm on my phone so I won't type too much, but it all depends on the operation and what is approved in its OpSpecs.

And honestly, it's not necessarily the source in my opinion but it's the presentation of the information that must meet whatever legal requirement (dispatch/flight release for Part 121). The information provided, unless coming from an FAA approved internal meteorology department (examples being FedEx and Delta) the TAFs, METARs, AIRMETs and any SIGMETs originate from the various agencies of the NWS producing the product.
 
Here's the way to look at it: if the wx brief doesn't have your N number/Call Sign attached to it, there's no proof you ever got a wx brief. Check ADDS, but make an online request through DUATS so that you have an official brief.
 
Here is a good article on the issue.

http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2014/October/14/Weather-briefings-for-the-Internet-age

91.103 - Required preflight action includes becoming "familiar" with weather reports and forecasts when flying IFR or not in the vicinity of an airport.

If you want to CYA then you should get a recorded weather briefing whether it be DUAT/DUATS, or calling a weather briefer. You can check aviationweather.gov complete a flight, and be ok (Part 91 at least), but the moment something happens that becomes an incident or accident, your record of getting a weather briefing could come into question. If there is no record, you're taking a chance that it won't come back to bite you.
 
ElihuSmails said:
Here's the way to look at it: if the wx brief doesn't have your N number/Call Sign attached to it, there's no proof you ever got a wx brief. Check ADDS, but make an online request through DUATS so that you have an official brief.
Click to expand...

This! ^^^^^^^^ for part 91, especially if you're Instructing.

91.103, get your N number in the system. Or over the phone with FSS, doesn't matter. Ever read an NTSB report that had something like this in it?

"A standard weather briefing was obtained by the PIC at xxxx MST."

mmmm hhmmmmm.
 
I also highly recommend those of you wishing to receive a legal weather briefing through an online provider to look into QICP requirements and then search out an appropriate vendor.

https://aviationweather.gov/qicp/index/description

FltPln.com and weathertap.com are two that I am familiar with. I recommend weathertap.com but that's largely due to my additional use of the full suite of products offered by WeatherTap.
 
So how about this.. Part 91 which I always am using the ever so popular Foreflight program? Instructing in the local area, check weather at all the airports I'm going to but don't get an "official" briefing. Something happens, is there really no record?
 
Ayork62493 said:
So how about this.. Part 91 which I always am using the ever so popular Foreflight program? Instructing in the local area, check weather at all the airports I'm going to but don't get an "official" briefing. Something happens, is there really no record?
Click to expand...

I'm sure ForeFlight can produce a record and if you got your weather briefing from another "non approved" source,your local ISP, aviationweather.gov (or whatever website you went to), or even the cookies and browser history on you computer could be used to prove you obtained some form of weather information. The difference is you don't have the expectation that any of those places are recording your briefing or that they will keep records to be used by the FAA and NTSB should anything happen and an investigation ensues from your flight. However, I doubt the NTSB wants to get a subpoena to prove this during an accident investigation and I'm pretty sure the FAA wouldn't want to either when pursuing a certificate action.
 
If it's in your ops spec it's cool, and NWS TAFs are cool with everyone, right?

Also you can use non-approved weather sources, but "for reference only." Which mean you can't say use a Delta forecast to dispatch a flight if it's not allowed in your ops spec, but you can still read it and compare to your approved weather source.
 
Yep QCIP has been gone for a few years now.

As others have said, most of what makes a weather briefing "official" is a record you received at least those pieces of information that make up a "standard weather briefing".
 
Ayork62493 said:
So how about this.. Part 91 which I always am using the ever so popular Foreflight program? Instructing in the local area, check weather at all the airports I'm going to but don't get an "official" briefing. Something happens, is there really no record?
Click to expand...
If you get a "briefing" through ForeFlight (it's from LockMart), there is a record. If you simply look at the weather on the airport page or scroll through the weather maps, I think not.

Nor would I want there to be a record of every single tap and swipe I make in an app.
 
surreal1221 said:
Hah, no way.

What a shame. Suppose we can thank Lockheed-Martin.
Click to expand...
I don't think we can blame LockMart for that one.

If you look at the QCIP AC itself, it deals mostly with the quality of transmission over the internet, not the quality of the weather data:

This AC pertains only to Internet communications between a civil aviation user and a QICP. This AC addresses data quality only to the extent of considering QICP security practices to protect data from unauthorized modification and encouraging the identification of the operational or experimental status of QICP products. (the underline is the FAA's not mine)​

IOW, the FAA was certifying Internet transmission, not weather products. They finally figured out that was a wee bit out of their areas of expertise.
 
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