Obsession with weather...

[Donnie Frank]

Hey doods!

I think one of the greater disconnects the FAA has regarding UAV's is the UAV pilot's focus on weather. When you're flying a jumbo jet thousands of miles at an altitude of 33,000 feet with 100 souls on board, "weather" has a completely different meaning from one flying 400' AGL, line of sight with zero souls on board. The FAA's obsession with weather is apparent via the litany of FAA "weather briefings" I receive every week.



Someone needs to tell the FAA that, while us UAS guys ARE concerned with the weather, we're concerned with ONLY the weather in our little slice of the world below 400' AGL. I don't care about "patterns" or Nimbus clouds vs. Cirrus clouds or what the weather is doing 2 states over or if there's wind sheer @ 2,000'. I just need to know what the weather is going to be in my limited area on the day I'm going to fly. Consumer level weather prediction tools are stupid simple to use and very accurate. If you tell me you need to fly X location at Y time, I can tell you in 30 seconds if it's going to be okay that time on that day or if it's going to be weather prohibitive. If I need to know the EXACT wind speed at the moment I'm going to fly while on site, I simply feel the wind with my finger and maybe break out the anemometer. If the wind is in question, I send the UAV up into the wile blue yonder in ATTI mode and let her drift. I instantly have an accurate picture of wind speed and direction at that given altitude courtesy the telemetry data the UAV is sending.

Also, I don't need the weather to hold out for 6 hours, as I'm usually done in an hour. Yes, some gigs are all day, and for those gigs, we dive in a little deeper. But for 95% of the jobs, a one-hour weather window is all any of us need. I've been operating this way for 8 years without a problem.

So...if you work for the FAA, please pass this along.

D

 

[AMGPilot]

Hey doods!

I think one of the greater disconnects the FAA has regarding UAV's is out focus on weather. When you're flying a jumbo jet thousands of miles at an altitude of 33,000 feet with 100 souls on board, "weather" has a completely different meaning that one flying 400' AGL, line of sight with zero souls on board. The FAA's obsession with weather is apparent via the litany of FAA "weather briefings" I receive every week.

View attachment 30846

Someone needs to tell the FAA that, while us UAS guys ARE concerned with the weather, we're concerned with ONLY the weather in our little slice of the world below 400' AGL. I don't care about "patterns" or Nimbus clouds vs. Cirrus clouds or what the weather is doing 2 states over or if there's wind sheer @ 2,000'. I just need to know what the weather is going to me in my area on the day I'm going to fly. Weather prediction tools are stupid simple to use and very accurate. If you tell me you need to fly X location at Y time, I can tell you in 30 seconds if it's going to be okay or weather prohibitive. If I need to know the exact wind speed at the moment I'm going to fly, I simply feel the wind and maybe break out the anemometer. If the wind is in question, I send the bird up in ATTI mode and let her drift. I instantly have an accurate picture of wind speed and direction at that given altitude. I don't need the weather to hold out for 6 hours, as I'm usually done in an hour. Yes, some gigs are all day, and for those gigs, we dive a little deeper. I've been operating this way for 8 years without a problem.

So...if you work for the FAA, please pass this along.

D

well Donnie once again you’re not understanding why things are done the way they are.
That high altitude weather, it’s an indicator of surface winds now and in the future

the rules are for everyone and ever foreseeable situation

if you’re operating in mountainous areas you need to understand about higher level

 

[Donnie Frank]

well Donnie once again you’re not understanding why things are done the way they are.

Okay....you explain why I need to know the wind sheer @ 5,000 feet 2 states over. And explain to me why I've been "doing it wrong" for 8 years by using Windy.com and local weather reports. If you can't, you might self-reflect on that. I would put windy.com and local weather reports against METARs and cloud knowledge any day. I totally get why pilots need that information. UAV pilots simply do not. Why extrapolate data from METARs when you can have literal data in real-time?

That high altitude weather, it’s an indicator of surface winds now and in the future

Don't need it. Windy.com gives me the wind readings when and where I need them, which is @ surface and 300' AGL. High altitude weather is useless. I have proof. I've never used it in 8 years of operation. EIGHT YEARS!

the rules are for everyone and ever foreseeable situation

I never questioned the rules.

if you’re operating in mountainous areas you need to understand about higher level

If you're operating ON a MOUNTAIN, you need to know that there is literally ZERO way to predict wind patterns in and around mountains. Just ask those climbers who died on Mt. Everest because the weather took a completely unpredictable turn. So much for METARs! Fortunately, 99.9% of us don't "do jobs" on a mountain. And those of us who do had better be ready to wipe your butt with the weather reports. I'm talking about weather in areas where we ALL work and play - which is NOT in the mountains.

Worth noting: I've done mapping work NEAR mountains using the same tools I use to map flat areas. Windy.com and local weather are all any UAV pilot needs. Period. And I challenge anybody to refute that. You can DISMISS it, but you can't refute it. I have 8 years of history to prove my point.

D