AVIA2025

Tutorial 3

Introduction to Airborne Drone Management

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Week 3 content – BAMK 3
1. Weather phenomena

2. Aviation weather forecast

 Weather phenomena
important for RPA operators to know about weather in aviation?
- Avoid risks safety,
- Affect flight operations in productivity
- Efficient and less wastage

Clouds
• How many levels of clouds are there?
• 3 levels
• Low level – MSL – 8000ft
• AGL – Above ground level
• MSL – mean sea level
• Examples of low level clouds:
• Stratiform clouds, stratus, cumulus clouds
• Medium level – 8000ft to 18000ft FL180
• Altocumulus and altostratus
• High level – FL180 to FL360
• Cirrocumulus, cirrostratus, cirrus.
• What is another term for stratiform cloud?
• Smooth layered cloud
• What are the main clouds for RPA operations planning?
• Low level and mid level clouds
▪ St – stratus
▪ Cu – cumulus
• Stratocumulus, nimbostratus. Altocumulus, altostratus.
Weather phenomena
• Clouds
• How many levels of clouds are there?
Weather phenomena

Cloud Quiz!

- cumulus,
- cumulonimbus
Weather phenomena
What cloud is this?

- altocumulus
Weather phenomena
What cloud is this?

- Stratus
- Looks thin, visibility looks misty.
- Inversion layer off the ground.
- Stratocumulus
- Long, covering the whole sky
- Altostratus
- Looks higher? Looks quite smooth?
- Cirrocumulus

- Left side – altocumulus or

cirrocumulus

- RHS – stratus or altostratus.

 Weather phenomena
Visibility
• What is cloud on the ground also known as?
• Fog - < 1000m
• Mist – 1km – 5km
• How do these affect RPA operators?
• Limit ability to see and affect VLOS.
• VLOS.
• What are some factors that can restrict visibility?
• Precipitation – rain drizzle
• daylight / night time
• Mist and fog
• Haze
• Dust storms
Weather phenomena
• What are some factors that can limit your control of your drone?
• Winds – strength and the direction
• Windshear
• may be defined as a rapid change in wind speed and / or direction within a short distance
(horizontal or, more commonly, vertical) in the atmosphere. The presence of windshear may lead
to controllability problems for RPA pilots, especially if the windshear is accompanied by
turbulence

• Turbulence:
• mechanical turbulence
• Prominent in urban areas.
• Wind near the surface may be very different to the “gradient” wind at, say, 2 000 feet AGL. As the air
near the surface blows around obstacles such as hills, trees and buildings, the wind may form turbulent
eddies, the size of which will depend on the size of the obstructions and the wind strength. This is
known as mechanical turbulence
 Weather maps and aeronautical forecasts
• Weather map is also known as? How to read a synoptic weather chart - YouTube
• Weather charts
• Synoptic charts
• Why are weather maps important to an RPA operator?\
o To identify winds, weak or strong.

o to identify regions of high and low atmospheric pressure

▪ low pressure = unstable air, cumuliform clouds, rain shower, thudnerstorm
▪ high pressure = stable subsiding air, free of cloud.

▪ Isobars - are lines on a weather map joining places of equal atmospheric pressure
▪ Weak winds = widely spaced,
▪ Strong winds = closely spaced
 Weather maps and aeronautical forecasts
• What does GAF stands for?
• Graphical Area Forecast
• How is this relevant to RPA
pilots
• Surface visibility
• Outlines the actual areas and for
how long
• Receive low level area forecasts
• Provide an overview of expected
weather within a certain area.
 Weather maps and aeronautical forecasts
• GAF abbreviations abbreviations.pdf (bom.gov.au)
• FEW – Few cloud 1-2 oktas
• SCT – scattered 3-4 Oktas
• BKN – broken 5-7 oktas
• OCV – overcast - 8oktas
Okta is a unit of measurement to describe the amount of could in any given location
- 1/8 of the sky covered in cloud .
• ISOL – isolated
• OCNL – Occasional
• CAVOK – visbilitly. C loud and visibility OK

• How is TAF different from GAF?

• TAF terminal area forecast.
• Closer around terminal (smaller area than GAF)
• Around aerodrome 5nm
• Temperature.
• One noticeable difference between the two --> the TAF provides forecast wind speed/direction. The GAF does not.
TAF exercise:
TAF AMD YMML 292330Z 3000/3106 14008KT 9999 SCT030 FM301100 14003KT 3000 HZ BKN009 PROB40
3017/3023 0400 FG RMK T 14 15 17 14 Q 1016 1014 1013 1014 TAF3

o TAF Aerodrome Forecast

o AMD This TAF amends the previously issued TAF
o YMML Location indicator for Melbourne Airport
o 292230Z TAF issued at 2230 on the 29th day of the month
o UTC 3000/3106 Validity period of TAF is from 0000 on the 30th until 0600 on the 31st UTC
o 14008KT Mean wind is expected to be from the southeast (140 degrees True) at 8 knots
o 9999 Visibility will be 10 kilometres or more (nil significant weather is expected, therefore weather group not included)
o SCT030 Cloud will be scattered (3 to 4 oktas), with base at 3000 feet above the aerodrome
o FM301100 Significant new mean conditions are expected from 1100 on the 30th UTC
o 14003KT Mean wind is expected to be from 150 degrees True at 3 knots
o 3000 Visibility will be 3 kilometres
o HZ Weather will be haze
o BKN009 Cloud will be broken (5 to 7 oktas), with base at 900 feet above the aerodrome
o PROB40 There is a 40% probability of conditions being the following during the 3017/3023 period 1700 to 2300 on the
30th 0400 Visibility of 400 metres
o FG Fog
o RMK Remarks section follows T 14 15 17 14 Forecast air temperatures at 00, 03, 06 and 09UTC are 14, 15, 17 and 14°C Q
1016 1014 Forecast QNH at 00, 03, 06 and 09UTC are 1016, 1014, 1013 and 1013 1014 1014hPa TAF3 TAF3 service
provide
TAF exercise:

TAF COR YMLT 212240Z(zulu) 2200/2218 31015G28KT 6000 -RA BKN010 OVC100
TEMPO 2209/2218 2000 +TSRA BKN005 SCT040CB RM

o TAF Aerodrome Forecast

o COR This TAF is a correction to the previously issued TAF
o YMLT Location Indicator for Launceston Airport
o 212240Z TAF issued at 2240 on the 21st day of the month UTC 2200/2218 Validity period of TAF is from 0000
until 1800 on the 22nd of the month UTC
o 31015G28KT Mean wind is expected to be from 310 degrees True at 15 knots with gusts to 28 knots
o 6000 Visibility will be 6,000 metres
o -RA Weather will be light rain
o BKN010 Cloud will be broken (5 to 7 octas), with base at 1,000 feet above the aerodrome
o OVC100 There will also be overcast cloud, with base at 10,000 feet above the aerodrome
o TEMPO There will be temporary variations (periods of 30 to 60 minutes), to 2209/2218 the previously given mean
conditions, during the period 0900 to 1800 on the 22nd.
o 2000 Visibility will be 2,000 metres
o +TSRA Weather will be thunderstorms with heavy rain showers
Review Questions:
1) Why do you think the standard operating condition for RPAS is set at (below) 400ft
AGL?
- The higher level the strong wind and tubulence is
- Safety
- Most manned aircraft activites 500ft > , 400ft allows for 100 ft sepeartion
Review Questions:

2) Where might you find real-time weather reports for aviation purposes, particularly RPAS
operations? How is the information presented different from a TAF or GAF? (answers provided by
Matt)

In Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) is the official source of aviation meteorological information and
provides this free service to all aviation users via its website www.bom.gov.au.

Observations, Forecasts, Warnings and other information can be found via the homepage and accessing 'Aviation
Weather Services'. The source of real-time weather reports for aviation purposes comes from a combination of
automatic equipment and human observers. Some examples include METARs (generated every 30mins), SPECIS
(generated when conditions change e.g. wind speed/direction, visibility, significant weather e.g. TS or FG), Aerological
Diagrams (produced via weather balloon, co-ordinated globally to occur within a 90-minute launch window)
Information produced in a TAF (Terminal Area Forecast) is for a specific aerodrome and within 5 nautical miles of it.
The information is provided in code form and can be amended when necessary (i.e. unexpected significant changes in
weather will require the TAF to be updated). It provides information about the expected weather and times of any
changes to the weather at an aerodrome e.g. a forecast wind for a period, then a change in wind direction/speed/gusts
later, with possible significant weather that may interrupt aviation activities at the airport during the forecast period e.g.
INTER (<30 mins)/TEMPO (30 mins to <60 mins) showers of rain which might reduce visibility and/or cloud base to
below the minimum required level to land safely.
In comparison, the GAF (Graphical Area Forecast) provides a forecast for a larger geographical area with specific cloud
types, potential icing and turbulence, the freezing levels and splits up the forecast area into different sections if
different types of weather are occurring in different locations during the entire forecast period.
One noticeable difference between the two --> the TAF provides forecast wind speed/direction. The GAF does not.
 Review Questions:

3) Explain why low pressure system is often associated with cloud and rain (answer provided by Matt)
Air is measured in pressure to determine relatively different values to surrounding areas. A 'high' pressure system
and 'low' pressure system are relative to each other and broadly represent areas of rising air (lower pressure) or
falling air (higher pressure). This can occur over very large geographical areas (continental size) and one example
can be seen at the equator and sub-tropical regions. As the sun heats air at the equator, it rises to the tropopause
which might be ~60,000 feet, it then spreads out and eventually moves towards the polar direction and falls in the
sub-tropical latitudes. This same process occurs elsewhere on other scales, but the general concept is the same.

Because a low pressure draws air towards it, the air has nowhere else to go but up. If there is enough moisture in
that air, it converges at a central point and rises. As it rises it expands and cools which produces clouds. If the
atmosphere is unstable and without inversion layers .
relatively warmer air from below will continue to rise into the cooler air above it until it reaches a 'lid' (think of the
tropopause as a ceiling - the air above is either the same or warmer than the air below, preventing it from
continuing to rise). This is also one-way thunderstorms can develop.
The key word here though is associated. There needs to be sufficient moisture as well. Similarly, high pressure
systems can also generate adverse weather like fog or showers. For example, a high pressure system centred over
western NSW could assist with onshore stream showers in Cairns, QLD due to SE winds coming off the ocean,
hitting the mountains and causing moist air to rise mechanically
4) What are some international sources of the same information provided by BOM? If you
were managing an operation at an international location, how would you plan for it and
which sites would you access?

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) coordinates world aviation meteorological information
provided by partner countries via the Hong Kong Observatory. There are many sites that produce and share the
same information.

https://worldweather.wmo.int/en/home.html [this site produces forecasts for most places around the world.
Links to national meteorological agencies for each country are also provided].

https://aviationweather.gov/ [ this site is run by NOAA in the US but provides METAR/SPECI information for
many sites around the world. Graphically it also shows areas of turbulence, thunderstorms and icing, so alone
it gives a heads up of possible bad weather].
5) Describe at least 3 ways in which weather influence the pattern of conventionally piloted
aircraft’s landing and take-off in a large metropolitan airport on a given day.

• Unstable conditions such as strong winds

Aircraft usually take off towards the headwind. (To create enough lift). On takeoff, if the wing requires 100kt of
airflow over it (airspeed) to create enough lift to fly, in zero wind conditions the aircraft will have to accelerate up
to 100kt over the ground (groundspeed) in order to lift off. However, if there is a 20kt wind blowing into the nose of
the aircraft, a headwind, it only has to accelerate up to 80kt groundspeed before it can lift off. In effect, the aircraft
is starting off with +20kt before it starts to move. Conversely, if there is a 20kt wind blowing from behind the
aircraft, a tailwind, it’s starting off with a -20kt wind. As a result, it has to accelerate up to 120kt groundspeed
before it can achieve enough lift to become airborne. This extra speed means that the aircraft will need more
runway before it reaches its takeoff speed. Consequently, you’ll understand why pilots prefer to takeoff into the
wind.

If there are strong cross winds or tail winds, take off will usually be delayed due to safety concerns. This affects
landing as well, aircraft will require to hold until weather improves or divert to the nearest aerodrome.

• Poor visibility – rely on the use of Instrument Flight rules.

5) Describe at least 3 ways in which weather influence the pattern of conventionally piloted
aircraft’s landing and take-off in a large metropolitan airport on a given day.

• Temperature and humidity

The first problem that heat creates is that air expands in warm conditions. In extreme heat, the air expands so much that
aircraft cannot generate enough lift under their wings to become airborne.

The runway length required by airplanes to gain enough speed to take off or slow down after landing is just not currently
available at any international airports.

In high temperature, air density decreases. For instance, during a hot sunny day, the aircraft needs more runway, faster
approach, and poor climb rate. An uninformed or unsuspecting pilot can face a disastrous situation when hot and high
combine. Aerodynamically speaking, high elevation and high temperature creates a situation where the performance of a
plane is reduced. With reduced fuel-air mixture, the Hp output of the engine also decreases.

The power of the engine is also affected by high humidity. The reduced power is due to the enriched mixture since there is
less air available and high water vapor level.

The reason why aircrafts show optimal performance during cold weather is because of the engine power and air density.
Cold air is denser in comparison to warm air. Therefore, the performance of the engine and airlift is carried out efficiently.
Questions?