Short Final: Follow The Leader

Dodging thunderstorms with the help of Nexrad.

Credit: Wikipedia – By Bidgee

On my AirVenture pilgrimage from New Jersey to Oshkosh many summers ago, I was watching a couple of small but darkening red splotches showing up ahead on the Nexrad screen of my handheld GPS navigator. This was in the early days of having weather radar displays available on portables, and I was glad I had it.

The two storms were in tight formation, on the move, and bearing down on my next VOR waypoint, Youngstown, Ohio. It took a minute to get through the busy radio traffic to the enroute controller. I told him what I was seeing and asked for a dogleg to the south to another VOR. He agreed and revised my IFR clearance.

After a short pause, another pilot asked the controller, “Uhh, are you showing weather at Youngstown?” The controller rerouted him, too. And one by one, a few more pilots asked for storm-dodging vectors. So, other than the fast-moving storms, it was a little quieter over Youngstown that day.

Mark Phelps is a senior editor at AVweb. He is an instrument rated private pilot and former owner of a Grumman American AA1B and a V-tail Bonanza.