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The Importance of Airborne Weather Radar Proficiency

Weather Radar | March 31, 2014

Author: Erik Eliel

 

One of the biggest misconceptions among professional pilots is that proficiency with the radar is simultaneous with the selection of the “on” button. Not true. The path to proficiency in any profession generally has two components: an academic foundation and operational experience.

A component of operational experience in the radar world is image interpretation, establishing a base-line understanding of what constitutes a “normal” image. This is requisite in order to be able to properly interpret what the radar is displaying.

A graphic example of what happens when a crew is not proficient with the radar comes from the accident archives. It involved an aircraft in which the radar’s performance had deteriorated by an estimated 80%, but the crew never recognized the failure. Effectively blind, they were unable to circumnavigate hazardous weather. All 21 people aboard perished. To put that into the proper context, think about this analogy. Imagine driving to work every day in your vehicle at 100 mph. This goes on day after day, week after week. But then one day, your car will only accelerate to 20 mph—think you’d notice the difference?

The answer is obvious, yet we often fail to acknowledge the parallel. How could a crew suffer an 80% deterioration in the performance of any piece of essential equipment and not recognize it? It was because they had no baseline for what constituted “normal.” I say this with no judgment regarding this specific crew; after all, like the rest of us, they were simply working within the parameters of a system that they likely had limited or perhaps no control over.

Understanding Your Radar System

Pilots must have a fundamental understanding of what radar can and should be doing before they will ever be able to understand what it is doing and make a judgment regarding whether or not it is sufficient. This is an especially important concept to remember as radar technology continues to advance and manual control begins to migrate further and further behind MFD menus.

Some believe that because their aircraft is equipped with the latest generation automated radar system, radar training is unnecessary. This simply is not true. Warnings within the manufacturer’s manual address failure of the auto mode, stating that manual mode is a reversionary/backup mode and that training is required prior to using it in that mode. Probably even more significant than that is the ability for a pilot to judge if what the radar is providing in auto mode is sufficient to reasonably manage operational risks. Simply knowing where convective weather is provides the first essential piece of necessary information regarding avoidance. But by itself, that is insufficient. An estimation of how hazardous it is is required, and only a pilot can make that assessment; automation cannot. Although hazardous convective weather should never be penetrated, variables exist that determine circumnavigation distance. The auto mode of radar, current or previous generation, simply cannot make these judgments.

Over-scanning

Over-scanning occurs when the tilt is set such that it is scanning a cell above the “radar top” (defined as the top of the cell as detected by the radar). The radar top is not the actual top of the cell; the actual top will be higher.

Over-scanning commonly results in inadvertent penetration of hazardous convective weather during cruise flight. The risk is greatest for those who fly highest, but a classic case of over-scanning occurred in August of 2006 to an aircraft cruising at FL280. The circumstances leading to this accident could not have been worse. The ARTCC controller, using a system called Weather And Radar Processor (WARP for short), was monitoring weather from 24,000 to 60,000 feet. Post-accident analysis of the weather echoes showed weak to moderate echoes at FL280. However, at FL200, “very strong to intense” echoes existed. The pilot had the radar tilt set too high, so neither the pilot nor the controller were monitoring convective activity below the aircraft. The aircraft was torn apart in flight and both on board were killed.

Over-scanning poses a serious threat, and all professional pilots need to become educated about what it is and how to guard against it.

Equipment Limitations

Finally, like all professionals, pilots are obligated to be familiar with the limitations of the equipment at their disposal.

One of the most significant limitations of aircraft radar is that it cannot distinguish between stratus and convective rain—that is solely a pilot responsibility. The radar simply has thresholds, above which certain colors are assigned. Although both environments contain threats, the threats are different. Determining which environment is present requires a brief preflight study of the weather synopsis and an ability to properly interpret aircraft radar images. Determining circumnavigation distance around convective weather is tied to a number of variables but basic analysis always includes cell height, shape, gradient and intensity. There are also a number of geographic considerations that pilots must consider as well. Although it can always be assumed that convective weather contains hazards, cells in different geographic areas are different and warrant different considerations.

There are no short cuts to proficiency in any profession; it requires an investment of both time and resources. Attempts to short-circuit proficiency with the radar always comes with a cost sooner or later. Any decision not to train should be a conscious one made with knowledge of the risks and acceptance of both the responsibility of the decision and the consequences when an incident or accident occurs.

Erik Eliel is President of Radar Training International and the Subject Matter Expert for TrainingPort.net’s Airborne Weather Radar topics.


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