WeatherOur flight around the world is carried out according to so-called instrument flight rules – often called "all-weather flight". This easily misleads to the impression that flight weather plays a less important role. Precisely the opposite is the case: The exact knowledge about the en route weather decides on the success of a mission.
Thus wind speed and direction may change during the flight and are decisively responsible for the fuel consumption. With incorrect wind assumptions the calculated fuel amount may run out already prematurely. Especially annoying if a runway in sight suddenly becomes inaccessible due to a standstill of the propeller. Our route leads across dessert areas whose sandy storms can impact an aircraft fairly hard. Engine failures as a result of closed air filters, blocked measuring probes or complete "going blind" of the windshield are examples.
Thunderstorms are an extreme danger to flights in all regions of the earth. Damages by hailstorm, glare of the crew by lightning, icing due to freezing rain and uncontrolled attitudes or structural damages of the aircraft cell as a result of strong turbulence are already to be found in "normal" thunderstorms of Europe. In the tropical zones of South-East Asia and near the so-called intercontinental convergence zone you may encounter strong thunderstorms year round. Entering these storms will lead to a lost airplane very likely.
Not forget to mention the tropical storms which may cross our flight route several times with different names like Cyclones (India), Willy-Willies (Australia), Typhoons (Japan), Hurricanes (USA). These weather phenomena are only nice to look at on satellite pictures.
So, enough reasons to pay weather a special attention. During the preparation phase above all the climatology along our route interested us most. It provides information about the "most likely" weather situation. By clever route selection and a good timing it is possible to avoid capricious weather right from the beginning. Later, during the trip, self briefing systems as well as solid personal weather briefings will be in the foreground.
In comparison up to now we liked the briefing quality of the German weather service (DWD) always the most. Consequently our way led to us the DWD press office in Offenbach which directly established contact to the DWD branch office Hamburg where the team around Andreas Beck is located. In the past this team already gave advice and support to pilots looking for help on worldwide missions and aviation sporting events. On a visit in Hamburg it quickly turned out, why this team deserves its’ good reputation. For a pilot it is simply very beneficial to speak to an expert in the „same language“.
After we had a briefing about climatology for several hours in the weather briefing centre in Hamburg we discussed how the support could look like during the trip. Based on his long lasting experience as a pilot Andreas Beck had a clear concept of what needs to be done. The team will follow our route and will “think ahead” before we actually start the respective route segment. On the basis of pre-processed working documents which can be made available in times of the Internet in almost all places of the world the briefing itself will occur. Of course the pilot remains in charge and will finally have to make a decision on the feasibility of a flight. Nevertheless, it can only be made on the basis of good information
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