Interesting Weather with XM

Our flight to Lansing, MI Wednesday was a good example of how XM
satellite weather can really help the average GA pilot.

The plan was to fly due East to Valparaiso, Indiana, just east of the
bottom of Lake Michigan, and then hang a left toward Lansing. We've
made this trip a dozen or more times, and the weather around the bottom
of the lake can be "interesting" -- no matter what time of year.

When we took off, we knew there was an area of iffy weather to the
north, drifting to the east. Knowing that we had "live" weather on
board made all the difference, since we could constantly update the
situation as we went.

After some experimentation with the 496, we have found that it's
possible to view cloud tops at various discrete altitudes. Since we
had a very high scattered to broken layer (up around 10K) and a low
scattered to broken layer (down around 2K), this feature was remarkably
useful. With Mary working the XM, we were able to discern where the
"edge" of the low stuff was with remarkable precision. (And, in
reference to our post of a few days ago, the low stuff WAS being
depicted on the satellite mosaic... Maybe they heard my complaint?
:-)

I stayed on "the clear side" of the lower broken layer for 40 miles,
but this was gradually pushing us south of our intended course.
Without XM, I would have maintained this course along this "edge"
indefinitely. WITH XM, however, Mary was able to show me that this was
a "dead end" course that would take us directly into some storms ahead
in Illinois. She was able to see that all we needed to do was hang a
left, cut across the lower widely scattered layer, and within 15 miles
we'd be in clearer air on the north side of the layer.

This is not something I would ever have done, before XM, since there
would be no good way to know how far the scattered layer continued, or
if it were improving or worsening ahead. With XM, however, it proved
to be child's play, and we were able to fly all the way to Valparaiso
without incident. Once we made the hard left turn toward Lansing, the
scattered layer disappeared, and all was right with the world.

Of course, on the opposite end of the spectrum, our flight home from
Lansing has proved to be something that XM couldn't really help. I'm
typing this in the FBO at South Bend, Indiana, where we landed
yesterday afternoon after running into an absolute wall of crap.

Because there are so few reporting stations in NW Indiana (strangely,
they are RADIO AWOS's, but they don't appear in computerized weather
depictions, including XM), we were proceeding in the "blind"
(relatively speaking) with XM. The few reporting stations in the area
were reporting good VFR ahead -- but we were running into wildy
variable conditions, running from good VFR to just above minimums --
often within just a few miles. Just south of South Bend conditions
dropped to absolute zero, with visibility and ceilings well below
anything we're comfortable flying in, so we did a 180 and landed for
the night.

Now, the weather is terrific here, but absolute crap in Iowa, predicted
to lift within the hour. As always, we've had a great time while we
were here (found a fantastic steak house called "222" downtown, near
the quite nice Holiday Inn), but I have to admit that the IFR ticket
would have been a deal changer on this particular flight. (No ice or
storms around now, just bad visibility and ceilings to the west.
Although, in truth, Iowa City has been below even IFR minimums much of
the morning.)

Bottom line: XM is great for picking your way around popcorn storms.
It doesn't do much good when bad weather is widespread over a large
area, with no fronts to keep things moving along.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"