“No one enjoys flying through turbulence, whether you’re piloting a single-engine piston or riding in the back of a jet,” said Henrik Hansen, ForeFlight’s chief technology officer.

ForeFlight says the additional feature within the mobile app displays the measured intensity of turbulence at multiple altitudes, making it easy for pilots to find the smoothest altitude along their flight path. ForeFlight Mobile automatically uploads the reports once it establishes an internet connection after the flight or instantly if connectivity is maintained during flight, according to officials.

Turbulence reports are depicted as colored markers on the Maps tab: Gray signifies smooth air, while yellow, orange, and dark orange represent increasing levels of turbulence, ranging from light to severe.

While pilots traditionally rely on weather forecasts and PIREPs for route planning, ForeFlight says its Reported Turbulence method offers distinct advantages, including enhanced accuracy and objective reporting.

ForeFlight estimates its Reported Turbulence layer offers 50 times more turbulence reports than manual PIREPs, per Sporty’s IPAD Pilot News.

Reported Turbulence is available as two add-ons for Pro Plus subscribers. Reported Turbulence (Low) offers access to turbulence reports up to 14,000 feet, whereas Reported Turbulence (All) provides access to reports across all altitudes.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

The post ForeFlight Introduces Reported Turbulence Map appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

PEGASAS, is not just another aviation-weather acronym—it stands for the Partnership to Enhance General Aviation Safety, Accessibility, and Sustainability, an FAA Center of Excellence for General Aviation. Amongst the long list of efforts produced by PEGASAS has been Project 4, Wx Technology in the Cockpit (WTIC), which concluded in August 2018. Project 4 collected information from weather providers and pilots to define the factors that play into weather-related accidents, and the ways that pilot alerts, decision making, and the presentation of information contributed to those factors. A demonstrator tool, WILD, was developed to show the effects of weather information latency and alerting systems, and education on using the tool was delivered as well.

Project 4 is the parent project out of which another weather-related project was borne, Project 33, the Advanced Wx Information Project (AWIP)—and one of its goals is to ” is to increase the use, quality and reliability of pireps (or pilot reports) of weather conditions experienced through flight,” according to the PEGASAS website. The use of augmented reality to drive three-dimensional visualization of cloud formation—particularly in convective environments—should help pilots to understand and mitigate the challenges associated with flying in these environments.

Flying spoke with Mel Futrell, a California-based pilot working with the FAA via Purdue University on a variety of the projects under the PEGASAS umbrella. “We have a current study concerning technology and pirep use and behavior, and I have a survey to query the GA public to this effect.” The data will be used to understand how to improve the ability of pilots to collect and process weather data.

Please consider participating in the online survey on pireps available at this link. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes. The Florida Institute of Technology and Purdue University appreciate as many pilots as possible participating in the survey between now and the end of November 2020.

The post Current Study on Pireps Needs Pilot Input appeared first on FLYING Magazine.