WEATHER HAZARDS

 FOG AND LOW CEILINGS 

How Runway Visual Range (RVR) Works | Boldmethod


    This week we will be discussing weather conditions that are a great hazard to aviation. Fog and Low ceilings, in my opinion, are the most dangerous conditions any pilot has to fly in. Different airports and military installations have their own criteria in which they can fly in. During the winter we are more prone to low ceilings and visibility.  According to NWS " Each year, around 440 people are killed due to weather-related aviation accidents including the conditions of low visibility and ceilings." What is Fog? Fog is the suspension of very small, usually microscopic water droplets in the air that reduce surface based visibility to less than 5/8SM. We have very many types of fog but the main one is Radiation Fog. "Fog consists of visible water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air, close to the Earth’s surface. It can be considered a type of low-lying cloud, which occurs when the temperature becomes close to the dew point (the temperature to which air must be cooled to become saturated with water vapor). Fog forms when the dew point rises until it equals the temperature, or the temperature lowers to the same as the dew point." (JETEX) On the Terminal Aerodrome Forecast it is encoded as FG. 

    Low ceilings on the other hand can be caused by variety of things. During this season it is caused when a temperature inversion develops in a lower level of the atmosphere with a layer of warm air trapping cool moist air at the surface. The other thing is when a strong cold front approaches the area, most of the time it brings with it rain and pretty low ceilings. 

    "Low Ceilings and Fog are always a forecast challenge in meteorology. It might be a little less challenging, say, if we know sea fog is advecting/moving horizontally in off the foggy Atlantic, onshore into JFK. It becomes more of a challenge in irregular terrain with cloud bases above the ground, but still very low." (Paul 2020)

    All in all before a pilot decides to fly they are thoroughly informed of the weather conditions and they get to decided the best way forward with the information provided. 

Reference

JETEX. Weather Conditions and Aviation: Fog. https://www.jetex.com/weather-conditions-and-aviation-fog/

National Weather Service. Flying in Fog. https://www.weather.gov/safety/fog-flying

Paul D (2020, January 29) Why Low Clouds and Fog are Aviation Hazards. https://buffalonews.com/opinion/columnists/why-low-clouds-and-fog-are-aviation-hazards/article_9778335d-5240-5295-abc7-a43a5e6801f8.html



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ENVIRONMENT IMPACT OF AIRPORT OPERATIONS

Image
      NOISE POLLUTION       For this week, we will be diving into environmental impacts that affect the airport operations. I will be discussing the Noise issues. No-one likes noise and to be specific a jet or a plane noise, its loud and interruptive. This is one big issue that affects the day to day operation of most airports. "Since the emergence of the aviation industry, aircraft noise has been one of the most important sources of excessive noise generated by human activities." ( McGill 2016) Noise can cause serious damages to peoples hearing ability, with that being said, the government has to be very cautious of where they decide to build airports.      Aircraft noises can be caused by either the type of engine or the aircrafts frame. When the air passes through the aircrafts frame, it causes some friction and turbulence which ends up producing the loud noise. "The noises generated varies  according to aircraft size and type, and can differ even for identical aircra
Read more

LOW VISIBILITY

Image
The Operating Environment and Aircraft Performance Aircraft performance can be affected by a lot of things. One of the major Environmental factor is Weather and to be more specific Low visibility. Weather is a very vital factor in aviation. Poor visibility may increase the possibility of pilot errors and collision with terrain or with other aircrafts. Fog and mist are one of the main factors that affects the visibility. Fog and mist are just very low clouds that sit on the ground. Fog is defined when the visibility is lower than 5/6SM while mist is above 5/6SM. In this conditions pilots have a really hard time taking off and landing the plane, jet or helicopters. Visibility doesn’t only get lowered by the fog but also sand. This is especially very common in the Middle Eastern countries where they have a lot of Sand storms. There are, however, ways of to proceed when you have low visibility. Different bases have their own criteria which they follow. For example in a base where I was sta
Read more