lonestarwings

I keep my wx radar on all the time, from takeoff until after landing. I do so for the following reasons:

1. To see weather
2. Geographic awareness (cities, lakes, coastlines, etc)
3. I've been told it prevents birdstrikes.

Is this bad technique. If so, why?

DMP9679

1. No towering cumulus or no cumulonimbus, no weather.
2. Use your MFD's Nav/Apt function, that will present cities, lakes, coastlines(coupled with using a low or high enroute chart).
3. Why do airports have birds all over their asses? They always have a radar going...

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UncleJesse

Who cares? Get a life.

randomguy

It's there, why not use it? Especially on a cloudy night it's a good idea to keep on just in case there's a CB you don't see.

lonestarwings

I don't know, apparantly it really bothers some people I fly with, even though I always remember to turn it off after landing.

juice

what, do they think you are "wearing it out" by using it?

personally, i don't use it all the time, but if someone is bothered by you using it, they need to worry about something else.

yasir1212

There's nothing wrong with using it but there really is no need to be always using it. If you wanna see coastlines, etc. just use the GMAP function instead of the WX radar. In my personal opinion, if you're using it all the time just in case you run into weather, to see weather just in case, etc. then it's being a step behind, because you can pull up the national weather radar on basically any computer and get a quick glance at the entire country or you route of flight and by that you can see if you'll be needing the radar to avoid weather, etc. enroute. If it's gonna be a clear and a million between points A and B, I'm not gonna even bother turning the radar on, but the person flying with me wants to turn it on, be my guest, I've got no problems with it. If someone is worried about others turning on the radar or not, they've got some other issues.

Yariv

seeing actual outlines of lakes, coastlines, etc requires a pretty agressive tilt (-5 or more) and only works well when you're almost over the landmark. seeing precipitation 40 miles ahead requires -3 or higher... and birds don't hang out at cruise altitude...

what tilt are you using?

other than below 18000', seems like a waste. the bright side is that you're not actually wasting anything... except the mechanics would probably tell you that the more you use it the more it breaks. and the long term effects of having a 10kw microwave transmitter 3 feet in front of you are yet to be determined (your microwave oven at home is 1.5kw... how'd ya like to stand 3 feet from it while it's on for 3 hrs?)

btw, gmap is the same as wx, just uses different colors. and the radar keeps itself off on the ground (before to, after landing) when in wx mode, unless you override it.

but since we're on the subject, how does everyone else use the radar? what's your tilt technique? gain? range? ever use any of the other modes? what kind of weather are you looking for? how well has it worked for you?

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lonestarwings

If I'm flying in fair weather I usually just keep the tilt at zero. This seems to give me a pretty good weather scan and paints some ground returns 50-75NM out. If I see something interesting I will tilt down to see how big the town is, etc etc. I know about the MFD nav and apt functions but since they only display *i think* six items at a time, and those six are usually clustered right around you, it's not that useful to me (although I do always keep nav and apt on the mfd). And yes, I keep my hi charts out too, but their geographic depictions are limited. I leave the tilt at zero on arrival too as I think that's a good angle to hit birds with (same for departure, unless I'm looking out for wx, in which case it starts at about 8 up and comes down from there).

I could be crazy but does anyone else remember the CCS message from a few years back encouraging us to keep the wx radar on for birdstrike prevention? I have no reseach to verify that it works, but I guess I took GS's word for it. I think the reason I started doing this is that I saw that message, but knew I'd probably never remember to turn it on....then a friend of mine told me he just flies with it on all the time so I figured I would too.

If I think a return could be weather I tilt up until I don't get a return anymore then down to see if I can paint a shadow. If I still get a return at 2 or 3 degress up with no ground returns anywhere close, it gives me a pretty good idea that I'm dealing with a storm cell (inside of oh, 75NM or so). The lower tilts/shadows give me a better idea of the intensity. From there I forumlate a strategy for avoiding the return, and always try to give myself 20NM clearance, preferrably on the upwind side of the cell. The closer I gt to a cell the further I tilt down, I might be at -3 or -4 as I pass to get good picture, but usually -2 is enough assuming I have my preferred 20+ NM of clearance and am in the mid 20's to 30's....if I'm lower the tilts will be higher.

I also take a look at radar charts during preflight, and coordinate with dispatch to file for a route that bypasses major systems altogether if possible, even if we need more fuel. I've been backed into a corner one too many times trying to cross a line at 370 with nowhere to go but "the lightest green". Better to burn a few extra pounds and have some repeat customers than scare everyone so much that they choose another airline next time.

I had thought about maintenance and the radiation, but thought the radar had power anyway when it was in standby, and figured the vast majority of the radiation would be focused outward since beam doesn't face the cockpit.

As far as my radar usage bothering guys, maybe "bothering" was the wrong word. I do get people asking me about it every once in a while, mostly out of curiousity, and they seem to give me a dumb look after I give my reasons. Oh well. I haven't gotten any flack for it on my line checks or PC's (learned the hard way to always keep it on during RPC's too).

dividedsky

even though i dont want kids i dont wanna shoot blanks.

your not supposed to stand directly in front of it while its working, whats to say a little bit behind it makes you immune. repair techs who climb up huge transmission towers report feeling dizzy in as short as 5 minutes if its still transmitting. what do they work on, RADIO WAVES, what does our radar's principle work on? RADIO WAVES! its a different length of the spectrum but its still the same principle.


TURN IT THE F OFF IF YOU DONT NEED IT!

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