Cross Country flights where (Upr Winds) FD's are not available.

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TopGun1234
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Cross Country flights where (Upr Winds) FD's are not available.

Post by TopGun1234 »

I'm planning a flight with the route CYYB-CYXR-CYCN.

Once at CYXR I'll be more than 80nm from the nearest FD reporting station. I'll be between Kapuskasing and North Bay.

My question, how do you guys fill out your nav logs with no upper winds data? Is using upper winds value that are more than 80nm away acceptable?

-Thanks,
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photofly
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Re: Cross Country flights where (Upr Winds) FD's are not available.

Post by photofly »

There are lots of other sites that can give you winds aloft forecasts.

And winds aren’t going to be much different at altitude 80km away from a forecast site.

And finally, acceptable to whom? Whom are you trying to impress? God? The Minister? Who really cares what you put in you log?
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lhalliday
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Re: Cross Country flights where (Upr Winds) FD's are not available.

Post by lhalliday »

Use what you've got. Iffy data are better than no data at all. Upper winds are never exact anyway. Monitor your progress en route, update as needed. Ground speed/ETE/ETA, double track, opening/closing angles. All that fun stuff.

...laura
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TopGun1234
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Re: Cross Country flights where (Upr Winds) FD's are not available.

Post by TopGun1234 »

Thanks Laura.
photofly wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 4:27 am There are lots of other sites that can give you winds aloft forecasts.

And winds aren’t going to be much different at altitude 80km away from a forecast site.

And finally, acceptable to whom? Whom are you trying to impress? God? The Minister? Who really cares what you put in you log?
What are these other sites? Do you have a link? I checked nav canada site and there are no other sites where I'm going.
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lhalliday
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Re: Cross Country flights where (Upr Winds) FD's are not available.

Post by lhalliday »

FWIW I'd use the North Bay and Timmins FDs, and maybe cross-check them against Val d'Or.

It's Ontario, so it's not like there are going to be major weather changes over such a short flight. What does the GFA look like?

...laura
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JasonE
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Re: Cross Country flights where (Upr Winds) FD's are not available.

Post by JasonE »

windy.com - set your flight level on the right.
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photofly
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Re: Cross Country flights where (Upr Winds) FD's are not available.

Post by photofly »

TopGun1234 wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 1:22 pm Thanks Laura.
photofly wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 4:27 am There are lots of other sites that can give you winds aloft forecasts.

And winds aren’t going to be much different at altitude 80km away from a forecast site.

And finally, acceptable to whom? Whom are you trying to impress? God? The Minister? Who really cares what you put in you log?
What are these other sites? Do you have a link? I checked nav canada site and there are no other sites where I'm going.
http://rucsoundings.noaa.gov/
https://earth.nullschool.net/

Dozens of others
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AuxBatOn
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Re: Cross Country flights where (Upr Winds) FD's are not available.

Post by AuxBatOn »

Skyvector.com is pretty good. You can even have a floght log for your flight...
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TopGun1234
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Re: Cross Country flights where (Upr Winds) FD's are not available.

Post by TopGun1234 »

Thanks fellow airplane people!

Windy.com is a pretty cool user friendly site. Although I'm able to get wind speeds for different levels, its a little lacking in the wind direction department. It seems to just give basic direction arrows N-NE-E-SE etc..

Also what is PDW?
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AuxBatOn
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Re: Cross Country flights where (Upr Winds) FD's are not available.

Post by AuxBatOn »

TopGun1234 wrote: Thu May 10, 2018 7:17 pm
Also what is PDW?
That, my friend, is a very good question.
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fish4life
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Re: Cross Country flights where (Upr Winds) FD's are not available.

Post by fish4life »

Use the ASEP data on the Nav Canada website. I can’t remember the last time I looked at the upper winds when it’s all displayed there
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ThatArmyGuy
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Re: Cross Country flights where (Upr Winds) FD's are not available.

Post by ThatArmyGuy »

lhalliday wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 8:21 am Monitor your progress en route, update as needed. Ground speed/ETE/ETA, double track, opening/closing angles. All that fun stuff.
Can't stress that enough. Flight plan your best guess but ultimately your nav log with updated GS and ETE/ETA will enable you to solve any upper wind errors to confirm you still have fuel to destination. And why not take overkill fuel quantity if you're not confident for good measure?

TAG
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