The ForeFlight aviation application for Apple products is probably the most popular aviation application for pilots and for me it is an invaluable preflight planning tool. John Zimmerman of iPad Pilot News [Sporty’s Pilot Shop] published an article recently about using the iPad and ForeFlight to receive the required preflight weather briefing before your flight departure.
He brings out several points about the briefing, some of which I was not aware. Is there an ‘official weather briefing’ ? Actually, no. CFR §91.103 describes the type of preflight planning you must do and the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) Section 5-1-1 discusses preflight planning but neither say where the briefing must be obtained. The FAA also has made available a publication that describes best practices for obtaining a weather self-briefing. [pdf of GA Weather Decision-Making].
The bottom line is that you may receive your briefing from a source of your choosing but it would be prudent to have a record of that briefing. ForeFlight retains a record of each preflight weather briefing that it generates – when and who received it. They will provide and have provided that information to the proper authorities if the need arises.
Of course, you can always call Flight Service for a weather briefing and have them record the call time and content ‘for the record.’
And to add to the information for those of you who read this in a timely manner, there will be a FAASTeam webinar on Saturday, April 9, 2016 at 9:30AM (PDT) titled: Best Tricks Tips and Sites for Self Briefing. The full announcement for the webinar is included below.
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“FREE WEBINAR – Best Tricks Tips and Sites for Self Briefing”
Topic: Tricks, tips and best sites for conducting a safe self briefing.
On Saturday, April 9, 2016 at 10:30 Mountain Daylight Time
Location:
ONLINE ONLY–Webinar
16501 Sherman Way
Van Nuys, CA 91406
Select Number:
WP0168256
Description:
In this 60 minute webinar, Delia Colvin, aviation weather expert, international bestselling author and 15 year veteran of Air Traffic Control will walk you through her favorite sites and tools for conducting a SAFE self briefing;
- Learn the 8 MUST CHECK points to any brief
- What extremely hazardous weather pilots doesn’t qualify as an “Adverse Condition”
- 4 Features of 1800wxbrief you may not know about
- The proposed replacement for Area Forecast
- The best forecast tool available
- Fantastic new tools that could save your life
- Tips for assessing unforecast severe weather
. Click here to register today!
To view further details and registration information for this seminar, click here.
The sponsor for this seminar is: FAASTeam
The FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) is committed to providing equal access to this meeting/event for all participants. If you need alternative formats or services because of a disability, please communicate your request as soon as possible with the person in the ‘Contact Information’ area of the meeting/event notice. Note that two weeks is usually required to arrange services.
The following credit(s) are available for the WINGS/AMT Programs:
Basic Knowledge 3 – 1 Credit
Advanced Knowledge 1 – 1 Credit