Nexrad versus on-board radar

Wyatt Emmerich wrote:
Flying back from Atlanta to Jackson, my Echo Flight finally received its
downloaded Nexrad data. It showed me flying right in the middle of a big
blotch of red. I look outside the window. I'm in light 40 F light drizzle
with ceilings of about 6000 above a broken 2000 layer. I turn on the
Bendix/King RDR 2000 on-board radar. It shows nothing. Nothing on the
stormscope.

Why the huge contrast between the on-board and the Nexrad return? Perhaps
the Nexrad was picking up water far above me, while the on-board was looking
ahead (I was at 5,000.)

Hi Wyatt,

I see the 12/19 date on your posting and note that I was flying on 12/18 (maybe
that's when you noticed this phenomenon?) and noticed a lot of NEXRAD radar
returns (but nothing red) in western North Carolina, but no ground stations were
reporting any precipitation.

Ceilings were in the 4-6000 range. I and several others reported light rime
icing in the 6-9000 range, in the areas where the NEXRAD was showing
precipitation returns. I ultimately descended to 5000 and completed my trip at
that altitude, below the bases, and there was no precipitation at 5000 ft.

Dave
Remove SHIRT to reply directly.

On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 10:13:18 -0500, Dave Butler wrote:

Wyatt Emmerich wrote:
Flying back from Atlanta to Jackson, my Echo Flight finally received its
downloaded Nexrad data. It showed me flying right in the middle of a big
blotch of red. I look outside the window. I'm in light 40 F light drizzle
with ceilings of about 6000 above a broken 2000 layer. I turn on the
Bendix/King RDR 2000 on-board radar. It shows nothing. Nothing on the
stormscope.

Why the huge contrast between the on-board and the Nexrad return? Perhaps
the Nexrad was picking up water far above me, while the on-board was looking
ahead (I was at 5,000.)

My guess would be the EchoFlight system had an issue. A friend of mine
had that system and kept trying to get it work for 2+ years. He had a lot
of issues with accuracy. He has recently abandoned the system and has gone
to WxWorx with XM radio. That system is working much better for him.

jerry