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In the recent PIREP podcast Jasen reported the wind speed and direction. I know how to figure winds in flight - but am not very quick at it. Some discussion or even a podcast on this would be pretty nice to see/hear!

I was thinking Jason was going to mention the "Sky Spotter" form that has been developed by someone (AOPA?). If I recall, Anais gave me one during my training for my Private Pilot certificate. I carry this form in a seat back pocket and pull it out to use for PIREPS. I go down the list and report on all the ones that I know or that are obvious (for example, no need to say negative icing on a severe clear day in the summer).

Here it is:

Pirep Sequence

Contact Flight Watch on 122.0 MHz
or call 1-800-Wx-Brief after landing.

Location........................ ______ From Nearest VOR/Airport
Time .............................. ______ Zulu / Minutes Ago
Altitude.......................... _________
Aircraft Type/Equip...... SR22/G
Cloud Type ................... Cirrus/Cumulus/Stratus
Cloud Coverage ........... CLR/FEW/SCT/BKN/OVC
Cloud Height................. Bases/Tops
Visibility ........................ _________
Restrictions to Vis. ...... Haze/Smoke/Dust/Other
Precip. Type.................. Rain/Snow/Virga
Precip. Intensity ........... Light/Moderate/Heavy
Temperature (C) ........... _________
Wind Direction.............. _________
Wind Speed .................. _________
Turbulence.................... Neg/Light/Moderate/Severe/Extreme
Icing .............................. Neg/Trace/Light/Moderate/Severe
Remarks........................ /AWC = SkySpotter

One other thing I've encountered is that it is important when calling up to give a pilot report that you call out to the relevant flight service station or Flight Watch. I had a situation flying from LA to Oakland once when I was somewhere over the San Joaquin Valley, tuned to 122.0 and called "Flightwatch, Cirrus Niner Zero Seven Delta Romeo with a pilot report."

What happened next was that I got two simultaneous replies - one from LA Flight Watch and one from Oakland Flight Watch. LA was hard to hear and at first I didn't realize I was talking to both. Eventually, LA got pretty annoyed.

So, now I make sure I know which ARTCC I'm in and my call is to "Oakland Flightwatch" or "Seattle Flightwatch" or whomever. The same is true with FSSs. I believe the correct call would be "Rancho Radio" or "McMinnville Radio" to call the flight service station.

When on an IFR flight plan you have to ask permission to go off frequency to give a Pirep. Usually, they will tell you to report when back on. If you have VFR flight following, it's also a courtesy. So, that would be: "Norcal, Cirrus Seven Delta Romeo, requesting frequency change to Flightwatch to give a pilot report."

When flying in the boonies, you often have to wait quite a while in order to get a response, so be patient. If you have a radio that allows you to monitor one channel while talking on the other, it's probably good to do so, especially if you're getting flight following so that you could hear any traffic call-outs while you're waiting to talk on the Flightwatch frequency.

Hope these observations are consistent with what our CFI hosts would say. If not, please correct.

Dan

An important aspect of Flight Watch, it is just one person responding to a large area. Be patient and when answered be prepared to give a clear indication of where you are relative to the nearest VOR and the information you want to give.