Pre-flight briefing

The links on this page are to free access web sites that do not require you to register or login except where noted.

8.33 radio frequencies

• After 03Jan2019 remaining 8.33 frequency conversions will be notified via the Skywise e-mail alerts system, so make sure your subscription requests the relevant category.
• Check your e-mail for Skywise messages about frequency changes and make sure your radio's presets are up to date if this change affects them.

Weather conditions

1. Pick a suitable forecast site from Weatherjack's weather data and use it to see if the day is likely to be suitable for what you have in mind. If you're in England south of the Pennines, you have other choices, which include:
   • CGC Heads-UP weather forecast. This is only available during the soaring season.
   • London Gliding Club's forecast. There is usually one every day, but poor days may be skipped.
   • David Masson's Lasham weather briefing. David only does a forecast if the following day looks promising and he has time.
2. Check the synoptic charts and/or look at METARs to get an idea of wind strength, direction, and how good the day is likely to be. Use your favourite site:
   • AvBrief (free login access to 5 day UK Met Office synoptics and forms 214 and 215, subscription for additional services).
   • Decode METARs from Worldwide TAFs & METARs selected from the Avbrief Weather page.
     This opens in a new window so you can cut and paste between Avbrief and it.
   • ECMWF is the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts: you can use it to cross-check the UK Met Office forecasts if the weather predictions look unstable.
   • Jetstream position forecasts, which are provided by the ECMWF, can help you decide if an existing weather pattern is being locked in by a southerly jet stream loop and, if so, whether change is likely in the next six days.
   • UK Met Office provides a decent summary of expected weather for the next few days. The amount of detail tapers off the further ahead you look.
   • Volcanic Ash Advisories for the UK should be consulted if ash from major eruption is reaching the UK.
   • XC Weather. shows current weather in a graphical map format. Each wind arrow is associated with an airfield that provides METAR information. Hover the cursor over a wind arrow to see the decoded METARs and forecasts in the right margin. This site will be opened in a new window.
3. If there's a chance of heavy cloud or rain, look at the satellite images to see what is in store:
   • High resolution visible UK shows a cycle of the last two hours images at 15 minute intervals. It links to a similar cycle of radar rainfall images.
   • Weathercast has a weather radar display that cycles between 4 hours and 1 hour ago.
   • Dundee satellite images. Choose from:
     • Geostationary satellite images. Choose SEVIRI and then pick year, month, day, time and channel from the menus. Channel 12(North) and Colour are likely to be the most useful. This site requires you to sign up for a (free) login.
     • Search by area. Click the top left and bottom right of the rectangle you want to see. Then pick the satellite, the date range of interest and whether to show a list or thumbnails. Click Query database to get a list of suitable images. Pick one and choose the channel you want to view, which varies from satellite to satellite.
   • Zoom Earth by Paul Neave, Neave Interactive, provides two zoomable, high resolution realtime images each day over the entire globe. The first zoom levels use NASA's MODIS images at from 5km to 250m per pixel. These images are no use for planning flights, but are good for post-flight analysis or simply as a record of the weather for that day. They display a control for selecting an AM or PM image for the required date. Zooming in further looses the data selection control as you switch to less frequently updated images with much higher resolutions (up to 0.5m per pixel).
4. If volcanic ash warnings are in force, look at the Met Office advisories:
   • Volcanic Ash Advisories for the UK.
5. Check the soundings using one of the RASP tools:
   • Parameter explanations.
   • Stratus website.
     • RASPTable
     • BLIPSPOT for GRL

Now you have enough information to plan a task and alternates.

If you're doubtful about getting round, use the Stratus Track Average tool to see if its doable and get a predicted flight time.

NOTAMS

With the task planned you must check the NOTAMS for flight restrictions and warnings.

NOTAMS from NATS

The following summary assumes that you're flying a closed task from Gransden Lodge that's entirely within the London FIR and that you do not intend to climb above cloud base. If any of these assumptions are untrue you'll have to modify your NOTAMS request accordingly.

Go to the National Air Traffic Services Ltd web site. This is free but requires registration.

You need to request a NOTAMS and then a UK Narrow Route brief. To minimise the amount of irrelevant information specify:

• a briefing ID. Accept the default.
• Select SNOWTAM, ASHTAM and BIRDTAM briefing content
• the date and time of the flight. The time must be UTC
• EGSC (Cambridge) as your departure and an airfield near the furthest point of the task as the destination.
• VFR traffic
• Validity period for the date you'll fly and times as 1000 - 1900 UTC
• Narrow Route Width as the distance in NM from EGSC to your farthest turn point and round it up a bit
• upper FL as the likely cloud base for the day, e.g. 050 for a 5,000 foot cloudbase

Leave all other boxes on their default values and click Submit to generate a NOTAMS briefing. Scan through the briefing. Mark any hazards on your map and you're ready to declare your task to the Duty Instructor and go.

These suggested settings should give the required results but check them carefully. I normally use SPINE (see below) and these directions are adapted from the NATS site as it was when I last used it in anger: it has been redesigned since then and not in a way that helps glider pilots. I think the way I've suggested you set the route width and destination should cover anywhere you're likely to end up while you're on task. If GRL is not at one end of the task, then set the departure and destination points to either end of the task and adjust the width so that anywhere you intend to go to either side of this line is covered.

NOTAMS via the SPINE graphical tool

Alternatively, you can use the SPINE desktop tool to check NOTAMS. This application was written by Jeff Goodenough, who also wrote TPSelect. SPINE lets you add your planned task to the on-screen map which shows airfields, BGA turnpoints and plottable NOTAMS, making it easy to set yourself a task avoiding restricted airspace. SPINE reads NOTAM data directly from the AIS web site and is capable of exporting it in either TNP or OpenAir so that it can be displayed on task by suitable navigation programs, e.g. LK8000, Winpilot or XCSoar.

Hazards near Cambridge

If there are NOTAMS for any of the following, check their websites for launch schedules:

• CU Spaceflight launch high altitude met balloons from a park just inside the west edge of Cambridge.
• EARS launch high power rockets near Ellsworth. We're barely 3 miles away from their launch site.
• Random Engineering launch high altitude met balloons from the EARS launch site.

Cambridge Gliding Club

This section contains direct links to:

• member accounts
• airfield and fleet status