Menu Sign In Contact FAQ
Banner
Welcome to our forums

Opinions about Stormscopes

The massive thunderstorms in my part of Europe during the last weeks made me think about a Stormscope. How many of you fly with such a device? How useful is it? What about the installation cost and hassle?
AFAIK, you don’t need a STC for a Stormscope. Used units seem to be quite cheap on Ebay.
I have flown a few hours in a rented DA40 with a Stormscope displaying on the GNS430, but that was all VFR.

Last Edited by blueline at 28 May 12:15
LOAN Wiener Neustadt Ost, Austria

I like them. They show only the worst of the worst, but most of the time I find this sufficient. It won’t give you a turbulence-free flight, but you should be able to keep your wings
all the way to destination

EBST, Belgium

How many of you fly with such a device?

I do, unfortunately it is not installed on all aircraft I fly…

How useful is it?

On a scale from 0 to 10, for all-weather IFR fying, I would give a weather radar 8 points and a stormscope 4. Both together however get 10 out of 10. So for me, a stromscope is much better than nothing. The problem is, that it can “see” thunderstorms only in their active/ripe phase (sorry, I only know the correct german term: Reifestadium) when there are electrical discharges. It will not show the TS during buildup, when there can be very severe turbulence, nor during its “decompostion” when there are the most severe downdrafts and also hail.

EDDS - Stuttgart

You won’t get info on rain and convective weather but you’ll get an idea where not to go It’s not even close to weather radar but it’s useful thing. I have WX1000 and I can confirm that when it shows lightnings on display, you’ll for sure see them though windshield when you arrive there

Last Edited by Emir at 28 May 13:07
LDZA LDVA, Croatia

I have neither radar nor a stormscope and use a satellite uplink instead. This has both advantages and disadvantages and best would be to have them all. So far I think I’m fine with the satellite feed but this setup does not allow me to fly around CBs embedded into IMC. Only a radar can achieve that.

Personally I think buying something like the ADL120 (or even better the cheaper iPad variant) is a better investment than installing a stormscope.

Personally I think buying something like the ADL120 (or even better the cheaper iPad variant) is a better investment than installing a stormscope.

What options are there currently for onboard WX?
Since the aircraft I fly is group-owned, I’m looking for a solution which is non-permanent…

The ADL120 is the best product out there in my view. Very cost effective. Personally I use my own solution with a Thuraya sat phone. It can do more but it requires a self written private web interface (due to copyright issues of the met images) and it is less integrated.

I have the WX500 and would say that a cluster of strikes reliably shows an area you don’t want to go anywhere near.

Individual, widely spaced, strikes can be seen even in relatively small cumulus – this is clear when flying in VMC so you can correlate the stormscope indication with visually seen wx.

A stormscope is quite cheap and well worth having.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

@ what next –
I think they call it “Mature Stage” followed by “Dissipating Stage” in English …

EDxx, Germany

Thanks for the great input. Any recent installation experiences?

LOAN Wiener Neustadt Ost, Austria
36 Posts
Sign in to add your message

Back to Top