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Meteorology
is a relatively "young" science. The vast majority
of important developments in the field have only taken place
in the 20th century. Driven by hot and cold war technological
breakthroughs and, more recently by environmental concerns,
our understanding of the atmosphere and our ability to predict
its behavior have improved dramatically in the last 50 years.
In the middle
of this rapid growth has been the airplane. Much of the progress
in modern meteorology has been driven by, and for, aviation.
As aircraft. designs improved and more and more aircraft were
able to fly higher, faster, and farther, previously unobserved
details of fronts, jetstream turbulence, thunderstorms, mountain
waves, hurricanes, and many other atmospheric characteristics
were encountered.
The aviation
industry turned to formal atmospheric research for the practical
reason that aircraft are extremely vulnerable to certain atmospheric
conditions, aircraft designers needed careful measurements of
those conditions; subsequent studies by specially equipped weather
research aircraft produced even more details of the weather
environment of flight.
In the early
days of aviation, it became obvious that a regular supply of
weather information was necessary to serve day-to-day operational
needs. In the 192O’s, many weather stations and the first
weather data communication networks were established in the
U.S. to serve the growing-aviation industry. These were the
forerunners of the modern weather data communication systems
that today serve a wide variety of public and private users
across the entire world.
The strong
interdependence in aviation and meteorology should be apparent
from the beginning of your aviation experience. Whether your
connection to flying is as a pilot, control1er, dispatcher,
scientist, engineer, or as an interested passenger you will
quickly discover that it is nearly impossible to discuss any
aspect of aviation without some reference to the meteorological
environment in which the aircraft operates.
The objective
of this text is to help the new student of aviation understand
the atmosphere for the purpose of maximizing aircraft performance
while minimizing exposure to weather hazards. The book is also
meant to provide a review of meteorology basics in preparation
for the FAA examinations. It brings together information from
variety of sources and should serve as an up-to-date reference
text. It is written with a minimum of mathematics and a maximum
of practical information.
The text
is divided into four Parts: Part I (Chapters 1-6), "Aviation
Weather Basics," provides important background in elementary
meteorology that provides concepts and vocabulary necessary
to understand aviation weather applications. Part II (Chapters
7-10), "Atmospheric Circulation Systems," deals with
the a wide variety of atmospheric circulation systems, their
causes, behavior and their related aviation weather. Part III
(Chapters 11-15), "Aviation Weather Hazards," focuses
specifically on the flight hazards produced by the circulation
systems described in Part II. Part IV (Chapters 16 and 27),
"Applying Weather Knowledge," considers the weather
forecast process and the task of interpreting weather information,
including interpreting computer-based weather briefings. These
final chapters provide a framework to put the information presented
in previous chapters to practical use.
As you begin
your study of aviation weather, a brief "pre-test"
is useful to emphasize the importance of the study of aviation
meteorology. Given the following meteorological phenomena: Rain,
gusts, whiteout, drizzle, high density altitude, mountain wave,
low ceiling, downdrafts, haze, lightning, obscuration, microburst,
high winds, snow, thunderstorms, 1. Can you define/describe
the meteorological conditions under which the phenomena occur?
2. Can you explain why, when, and where the conditions are likely
to occur? and 3. Can you describe the conditions specific hazards
to flight, and explain how to minimize those hazards?
If you cannot,
then consider that all of the items listed above are cited as
causes or contributing factors in the more than 400 General
Aviation accidents that occur in a typical year. These weather-related
accidents account for 19% of the total General Aviation accidents.
Another sobering statistic is that, if only accidents involving
fatalities are considered, weather was the cause or a contributing
factor in more than 23% of the total accident cases, nearly
one in four! When you complete this study of aviation meteorology,
you should he able to return to this page and answer these questions
with confidence with respect for the atmosphere and its vagaries.
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Overview
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Table of Contents
Hardcover,
480 pages, 500 color illustrations.
Shipping Weight: 2 lbs
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