The following article appeared in the March 2021 issue of the American Bonanza Society magazine - www.bonanza.org
At least once a year, I come across a Baron I haven’t flown
before, equipped with an old monochrome magic box that hasn’t been turned on in
20 years - only to have emitted electrons when the pilot accidentally turned it
on.
In the world of ADS-B, high resolution Nexrad Radar and all
kinds of goodies on my tablet, why in the world would anyone care about onboard
radar? This is actually a common sentiment
I hear from pilots when I ask if their radar works, or whether they use it. Most
of the time they do not use it, and that is ok.
For most pilots, navigating a line of weather, or radar with green
returns will convince the casual flyer to stay on the ground. But what about
the avid IFR pilot getting maximum utility out of their Baron? Do THEY use their Radar? Do they even have
radar?
With advancements in technology, many are investing in their
panel and quite frequently, the old radar gets yanked out (which is great for useful
load), and not replaced (the expense of installing new onboard radar is still
high). The magic of XM Satellite
weather, and the affordability of FIS-B weather (can you say free?) is exciting
many pilots with more tools than we have ever had before. Again, this is not a problem, but begs the
question – is the pilot using the digital imagery to tactically navigate
weather or is it being used for planning and big picture strategy? There is a
difference.
When to use Nexrad
The trap comes when pilots try to navigate weather
using Nexrad. This goes for Bonanza
pilots too. Why is this an issue? It
comes down to the delay of information and is the reason pilots must only rely
on Nexrad for strategic weather planning and not use it for tactical weather
decisions. Many get suckered into thinking that the Nexrad Age showing
only 3 minutes is indicative of near-real-time conditions. It was explained to me by an old acquaintance
from the National Weather Service that when a radar mosaic is compiled, it
takes multiple scans of the radar site to compile the image, he joked that a
bunch of interns take their time to stitch it all together, then it is
disseminated for distribution. I’m sure
this process is automated, and professionals are involved in creating the
mosaic, but his point is that it could easily take 10 minutes or more before
the image gets shipped out to the providers. While XM Weather boasts imagery
that is no older than 5 minutes because of where they get the data and how they
process the radar images, the contrast in imagery versus what I typically see
out the window seem to indicate there may be more of a delay than they claim. The delays with this whole process are real –
so much so that the NTSB came out with an advisory that talks about the delays
associated with this process:
https://www.ntsb.gov/safety/safety-alerts/Documents/SA_017.pdf
It goes without saying – Nexrad radar images are to be treated as what happened (past tense) and not an indication of what IS happening. A good example of this are the pictures to the left. The Nexrad image (XM satellite – Age of 3 minutes) showed a yellow return just ahead and to the left of our nose.
When you need onboard Radar
The simple answer is
that you need onboard radar for navigating weather and making tactical
decisions. However, just by having
onboard radar doesn’t mean you are equipped to go blasting through cold fronts navigating
convective activity. You need the training in order to use these boxes. The
beauty of datalink weather is that there is nothing to do but watch the screen
– with onboard radar this conversation could take on a life of its own
as a college course. And maybe that’s
why there is frustration, confusion and proverbial throwing the hands up at the
situation. The good thing is that in
this day and age, there are so many resources on the internet to help with
understanding how to use your onboard radar, and you aren’t relegated to
watching an old VHS tape of Archie Trammel – the radar God of yesteryear. Come
to think of it – I think I still have that VHS tape. It was considered gold at the time and many
of the concepts Archie introduced are still valid today.
Some of the buttons and knobs seem to have a friendly feel
to them. Range – seems obvious. Distance
you want to scan. Tilt – At what angle do
you want to focus your radar. There
might be gain controls, hold buttons, and other buttons that seem intuitive. This is all well and good, but as I mentioned
above, a solid course in radar use is a must if you are going to be making
tactical decisions with it.
More than just Radar and Nexrad
The screen to the left depicts one afternoon when I was flying a quick trip to KCMI. Because Nexrad shows the whole sky, it paints a picture of rain and potential building convective activity. But does it? That trip was flown at 6,000ft – in the clear the whole time with cloud bases at 8,000ft with
Conclusion
Many seasoned Baron pilots reading this article may feel
this is basic information, but frankly, there are a lot of individuals stepping
up to a Baron that don’t have this experience and might be oblivious to the
perils of datalink weather, the merits of onboard radar, and might have had
frustrating experiences with either of these weather tools. A rash of conversations at the local FBO as
well as at least two posts on one of my favorite Beechcraft forums reveal that there
are both Baron and Bonanza pilots relying on datalink weather for tactical
decision making while airborne, which could have disastrous consequences. An evaluation of the kind of flying you are
doing (or want to do) coupled with some focused sessions with a BPPP instructor
that has expertise with these systems will go a long way in helping you get the
most utility out of your Baron.