It isn't so much the level of the return, but the gradient
and attenuation. When Doppler radar is available areas of
turbulence can be directly detected. But conventional radar
must be used as a hint to what may be happening, based on
local knowledge, terrain, prevailing weather and even time
of day.
Any FSS, any ground based reporter or forecaster may be as
brave as they want, but to tell a pilot that they should not
be concerned or "act cowardly" is just plain stupid.

I would recommend that any IFR pilot get the books (and if
possible) take Capt. David Gwinn's course on radar. And
read Capt. Robert Buck's book, Weather Flying.

And FSS persons should explain and teach, rather than dare
and goad.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm
See http://www.fija.org/ more about your rights and duties.


"Roger" wrote in
message ...
| On Sun, 21 May 2006 19:17:03 -0400, "Peter R."

| wrote:
|
| I actually received this comment today from an FSS (US
Flight service)
| specialist when I called for an IFR flight briefing for a
flight from
| Boston back to Syracuse, NY, early this afternoon. The
Bridgeport FSS
| specialist was not joking either. He went on to say that
too often pilots
| express concerns to him about seeing yellows and reds on
the radar when he
| knows there is no convection in the area.
|
| Unbelievable. I made the mistake of responding by
pointing out that it
| certainly is easy to make those comments while sitting
safely in a chair in
| a building. I then continued by asking him where he was
so that I could
| stop by his airport, pick him up, and take him for a ride
through some
| level three returns. His reply was that he already has
plenty of hours
| doing just that.
|
| On a flight just a week or two before I was to take the
instrument
| check ride my instructor had my file a plan from 3BS -
MBS VOR - LAN
| (ILS) - AMN (NDB) - 3BS (VOR).
|
| The area between MBS and LAN was about 40 to 50 miles of
solid yellow
| and red. I questioned the wisdom of flying into such
things and my
| instructor said, "You did get a briefing didn't you?" to
which I
| replied, "Yes". He asked, "Was there any convective
activity in
| progress or forecast?"... No there wasn't. Are conditions
favorable
| for convective activity? No they weren't. ... Any other
questions?
| At this point he informed me he was just going to be a
passenger even
| if he was officially PIC.
|
| So, we picked up our clearance and headed into the rain
and man did it
| rain! Torrential rain, but it was one of the smoothest
rides I've
| had. Coming back from Lansing (LAN) to Alma (AMN) was one
of the most
| picturesque rides I've ever had. We were between layers.
There were
| columns of cloud joining the two layers and individual
clouds floating
| around in there. The light was almost a fluorescent green
or at least
| had a strong green cast. It was beautiful.
|
| The approach into Alma was a left turn to the NDB which is
5 miles
| west of the field. Then the PT back to the NDB all the
while just
| skimming the top of the layer while going through the
occasional piece
| sticking up. The feeling of speed was tremendous. At the
NDB we
| started the descent into torrential rain. We broke out
about 50 feet
| above MDA in heavy rain with the runway directly ahead.
We went
| missed and headed for home.
|
| Suddenly we were back in bright sunshine and MBS approach
told us to
| expect the visual into Midland (3BS). Unfortunately of
fortunately
| depending on your view all we could see in the Midland
area was more
| clouds. So the reply was we'd like to do the VOR-A into
3BS if it was
| OK with them. They didn't know it was solid over there.
|
| We had vectors to intercept the approach inbound which
made it an easy
| one, but again we were very close to minimums and a mile
to the east
| of the airport it was below minimums which we reported to
app.
|
| It was one whale of a nice ride, a good work out, and
three different
| approaches right down to almost minimums. All this
through what I had
| expected to be a really rough ride due to those red and
yellow
| reflections which really are only showing precipitation.
|
| Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
| (N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
| www.rogerhalstead.com