Weather briefing monster - a rant

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MountainDude

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MountainDude
Just did an outlook briefing for a 1000 nm flight tomorrow. The PDF output was 108 pages long! This to me introduces significant safety concerns, given that no one is going to read 108 pages prior to a flight.
What happened to the paperwork reduction act? Does it not apply to the digital era?
 
MountainDude said:
Just did an outlook briefing for a 1000 nm flight tomorrow. The PDF output was 108 pages long! This to me introduces significant safety concerns, given that no one is going to read 108 pages prior to a flight.
What happened to the paperwork reduction act? Does it not apply to the digital era?
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A PDF does not become paper until you print.

o_O
 
A perfect allegory for today. Information overload is just as bad as sketchy information. Both make it difficult to get to the truth of the matter. Fortunately and hopefully, those entities in charge of the briefings have no particular agenda in the output.
 
Try the 1800wxbrief.com briefing on the website. It's much more user friendly than I had thought. It does a good job of focusing on the stuff that matters and using a graphic display. Make sure to get someone to show you how to best take advantage of it. My IFR instructor had us use it every day and once you learn the flow, it's good.

BTW, I totally agree with your point on safety. My old airport would have 100 NOTAMS for unlit towers, most of which were about 200 ft AGL and well more than 5 miles from the airport. Total waste of time reading them unless I was doing low level helicopter work at night.
 
Hang 4 said:
Try the 1800wxbrief.com briefing on the website. It's much more user friendly than I had thought. It does a good job of focusing on the stuff that matters and using a graphic display. Make sure to get someone to show you how to best take advantage of it. My IFR instructor had us use it every day and once you learn the flow, it's good.

BTW, I totally agree with your point on safety. My old airport would have 100 NOTAMS for unlit towers, most of which were about 200 ft AGL and well more than 5 miles from the airport. Total waste of time reading them unless I was doing low level helicopter work at night.
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It was 1800wxbrief.com
NOTAMs occupied pages 54-108. Ridiculous.
 
MountainDude said:
https://www.1800wxbrief.com/
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there are some options that might help, if you're not already using them. but like rk said above, 1000nm flight....

upload_2020-4-23_22-0-22.png


or maybe the abbreviated would be better:

upload_2020-4-23_22-1-0.png

you can also pick and choose if you are using the 'new' format, which so far I don't like as much as the old format.
 
I can tell you the answer, but I'm trying to get out of the business of speaking the quiet parts out loud. Too many haters and FAA snitches lurking on here. :D
 
To be clear, what I was talking about was doing the briefing on-line in the tool, not just hitting print. That allows you to read what really matters and skim the rest. I don't print anything, so not sure if you can print just the needed bits.

There's a video out there somewhere with the head of the NTSB talking about what a mess the NOTAM system is. He specifically hits on the fact there are way too many of them, so the ones that really matter, have a high potential not to be read.
 
Hang 4 said:
There's a video out there somewhere with the head of the NTSB talking about what a mess the NOTAM system is. He specifically hits on the fact there are way too many of them, so the ones that really matter, have a high potential not to be read.
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If is the video I saw, it is about 20 years old and nothing has changed since. You wiill still get thunderstorm probability reports for Missouri and Kansas while briefing for a flight entirely within Montana.
 
I use the 1800wxbrief site from my iPhone at the airport. Just for a local weather brief the usually run 48-50 pages and are a pain to short through for the important bits.

I really miss the days before the earth cooled when I could just walk up the stairs to flight service, look at the maps myself, and then have any questions answered by whoever was on duty there. Nice guys. I learned a ton about reading weather maps and about local weather conditions (lake effect, etc) that were not always accurately reflected in forecasts.

One of those nice guys became my sister's father in law.
 
Don’t they include any airports within 150 miles or so of intended flightplan. Including ones behind you, even for a 25 nm flight!
 
hindsight2020 said:
I can tell you the answer, but I'm trying to get out of the business of speaking the quiet parts out loud. Too many haters and FAA snitches lurking on here. :D
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C’mon!

Seriously, I’m puzzled by this as well. Can you at least give us a hint or a link?
 
fasteddie said:
C’mon!

Seriously, I’m puzzled by this as well. Can you at least give us a hint or a link?
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There's no answer, it was said in jest. Basically, don't read 100 pages of NOTAMs. Exercise judgment and nuance in the manner one approaches flight planning for a long trip. I've done trips that long without reading 100 pages of NOTAMs. We can what-if everything to the end state of being adjudicated perennial scofflaws by default. I'm not letting that hypothetical become the sclerotic fear that would make me scrub a trip over. To each their own.
 
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