Navigating Weather by Ison David;

Author:Ison, David; [David Ison, Ph.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc.
Published: 2021-10-24T15:02:29+00:00

Tilt Pitfalls

Unfortunately, there are some common but improper tilt management techniques that can easily lead to dangerous weather encounters. One such pitfall is what I call wrong scanning. This is when a pilot aims the beam in the wrong place (or a less-than-ideal place). A typical example of this is when the beam is not pointed at the highest reflectivity area—that intermediate portion of a storm near or below the freezing level. As a result, the beam is not filled, and therefore, the returns will be understated on the PPI. This obviously could lead to inadvertent penetration of nasty weather. Two sub-types of wrong scanning are under-scanning and over-scanning. Under-scanning refers to when the radar beam is pointed down excessively and thus undershoots weather beyond the beam (see Figure 3-30). Obviously, this could lead to an aircraft getting dangerously close to a storm, perhaps so close it would be unable to avoid it once the beam finally started to paint the cell. Over-scanning refers to the case in which the tilt is set too high to detect the weather below the bottom of the beam (see Figure 3-31). This is most likely to occur at cruise, particularly at high altitudes. Even if a pilot has set the tilt correctly to detect distant weather, as the aircraft approaches a storm, the cell will slip beneath the bottom of the radar beam. This phenomenon is often seen on the PPI as a strong cell appearing to weaken as it gets closer to the aircraft, but in reality, the storm is filling less and less of the radar beam as the aircraft closes in on the storm. Another caution should be noted: rapidly building storms can sneak up from below the radar beam, catching crews off guard. What is the key takeaway message? Yes, I will repeat it: tilt needs to be actively manipulated to continually check to see what is going on below, at, and above the aircraft’s flight path.

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