Summer is upon us and with it comes the inevitable thunderstorm. This is especially true in the Southeast where the forecast for “vicinity thunderstorms” dominates nearly every TAF. Thunderstorms don’t always have to spell out a cancelled flight, but proper thunderstorm avoidance requires a heightened level of awareness from us as pilots.

That being said, we can’t let a little thing like scattered thunderstorms cancel our plans all the time. Scattered cumulonimbus clouds tend to be few and far apart, making it easy pilots to pick their way around the weather. There are two schools of thought on this.

Rainshafts and virga extend from a dissipating thunderstorm

A lot of VFR pilots prefer to stay down low and avoid the rain shafts by a healthy margin. Although this method does work, it has its drawbacks. First off, it’s mighty bumpy down low with all that convective activity going on. Furthermore, a thick haze layer could obstruct your vision just enough to lure you into the weather. Flying around under the clouds with increasing weather can even tempt the most disciplined pilot into scud-running, which is always a bad idea.

Perhaps the best way to dodge weather is to get on top and visually weave your aircraft around the buildups. After flying a variety of aircraft with anything from onboard radar to XM satellite weather, I can personally vouch for Richard L. Collins’ statement that the best weather avoidance tools are your own eyes, or the “Mark II Eyeball,” as he calls it.

My eyeballs tell me I don't want to fly through that.

Visually dodging works great, but piston driven (and even turboprop) aircraft can’t always stay out of the muck. That’s right, the instrument rated pilot might find himself blindly flying towards embedded thunderstorms! Without onboard weather radar, this is a very dicey proposition and serious thought should be given to landing and reevaluating your options.

If you are continuing (are you sure this is such a good idea?) then it would be prudent to make full use of air traffic control and local flight service stations. You might be blind, but the controllers and FSS personnel may be able to suggest alternate routing that will keep you out of the worst of it. Sure, there are no guarantees, but it’s better than nothing.

The darker areas will usually have more severe turbulence.

Even in the clouds, the window can play a role in thunderstorm avoidance. Near nasty weather, it is not uncommon to see gradients of white and grey in the windshield. As a rule of thumb, avoid the dark patches for the smoothest ride and don’t ask, but tell the controllers what you need in terms of heading and altitude.

Thunderstorms are serious business, and ought to be avoided at all costs. This doesn’t mean that you can’t fly, but it does mean that you have to be careful. Visual avoidance is always your best bet, and the decision to enter a region of thunderstorms in IMC needs to be well thought out. Use all available resources to plan and reevaluate your flight, and know that there is no shame in landing and waiting out the storm.

We’ve all been there. The weather is marginal and you are faced with the infamous go/no-go decision. Many questions go through your mind. How accurate are those forecasts? Has the weather already begun to improve, or is it getting worse. Can I climb above that cloud layer? These and many more can be answered by a PIREP. In this article, you will see how easy it is to submit your own PIREP.

A PIREP is a pilot report of actual weather conditions encountered by an aircraft in flight. PIREPs are usually transmitted by radio and encoded as a block of text describing the location, time, altitude, aircraft type, and weather phenomenon observed.

Unfortunately, PIREPs tend to be few and far between. For example, as of the time of writing, I count a total of seven PIREPS in the Southeast United States, and that is with an advancing cold front and rain showers blanketing the area. You can improve the aviation weather reporting system by submitting your own PIREP next time you fly.

So how do you submit a PIREP? It’s actually a very simple process. Begin by contacting the nearest flight service station (FSS) and tell them that you would like to submit a PIREP. Now, report the following items:

1. Location relative to a VOR or airport
2. Altitude of your aircraft
3. Type of aircraft
4. Time of the weather observation (example: “five minutes ago,” or “1655 Zulu”)
5. One or more weather observations (example: “cloud tops 4,000,” or “continuous light chop,” or even “OAT 04 degrees”)

A simple pilot report might sound a bit like this:

You: “Atlanta Radio, Cessna 12345 monitoring 122.2″
FSS: “Go ahead Cessna 12345.”
You: “Cessna 12345, We’d like to submit a PIREP.”
FSS: “Ready to copy Cessna 12345.”
You: “Cessna 12345, over two-five east of ABC at four thousand five hundred feet, type C182, time 1655 Zulu, cloud tops at four thousand.”
FSS: “Thank you Cessna 12345.”

To make PIREPs even easier to report, AOPA has put together a great form that you can print out and fill out in flight before you contact the flight service station. To become a certified expert on PIREPs, take the Air Safety Foundation’s SkySpotter mini-course.