On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 18:29:52 -0500, "Icebound"
wrote:

If a pilot does not know the definition of lapse rate, then it is pretty
difficult for him to recognize the conditions which lead to atmospheric
buoyancy or to atmospheric stability.

You really think so? You feel that people would not/do not understand
how and when clouds might form if they do not have an understanding of
what lapse rate is?

When I flew out to Oshkosh in '95 in the front seat of a Waco UPF-7,
we encountered a LOT of thunderstorms along our route. The plan was
to fly from Vermont due west staying south of the Great Lakes until we
reached Chicago, then turn right. Known as the "Northeast Corridor"
it's home to a lot of thunderstorm activity during the summer.
Typically, we'd fly along our route for as long as possible, and when
the sky filled with thunderstorms that we could no longer fly around,
we landed and waited them out. We ended up waiting more than we'd
planned due to the amount of storms we encountered. By the time we
turned north past Chicago, the storms were individually extremely
violent but isolated and we could and did just detour around them.

How would the pilot who truly understood lapse rate have flown it any
differently?

Thanks, Corky Scott