Well I was flying in it EDTY to EDMS to EDFE and it was very isolated CBs that were little threat at any altitude.
I have the RDR2000 weather radar and the wx500 stormscope on board my Jetprop, and I have to say as small as it is, once you learn to operate the radar correctly both interpreting and tilt management wise, it is vastly superior to the stormscope. It is one if the few single point of failure items on the aircaft that would prevent me launching into hard IMC without.
As has been stated, the stormscope is a longer range strategic tool allowing early big deviations, but the radar is tactical, and IMHO vital if approaching the typical large build ups we get in the terminal areas during the monsoon season.
I am fortunate enough to be in contact with Archie Trammell the grandfather of radar training in the US, who helped me adapt his excellent radar techniques to my unit. I am a total convert to radar usage. The stormscope is nice to have, the radar essential.
Cheers. E
I have a Strikefinder in my ancient Mooney and it works pretty well, but if I had the choice today between that and buying something like the ADL, I’d buy the ADL immediately. The installation costs for a Stormscope/Strikefinder are not trivial and I think you get much better bang for the buck with the ADL. I do not have an ADL but really want one. At the moment I pick up a radar picture on the ipad before I go and confirm that in flight , usually visually (vmc on top) or on stormscope.
As other posters have said, Stormscopes work well as a long range tool and as additional comfort in IMC to avoid the really nasty stuff. However with radar downlink (with the proviso of the delayed data) you can also avoid a lot of other rough stuff , not just CBs and get a much better picture of the overall weather and what to avoid. Also, I find in western Europe CBs are relatively rare (at least UK/western France) so I don’t get to use it as often as I thought I would. I was based in Spain for a while and there I got to use it a bit more, especially as a way to prompt thoughts about Plan B if weather develops en route. I get much better ‘normal’ weather avoidance by having O2 and climbing on top and avoiding the buildups visually, and it is clear that it is only the really nasty stuff that paints on the stormscope, plenty of big clouds that would be non lethal but definitely uncomfortable to be in don’t appear on it. I’ve been flying with O2 for 10 years now and it has really been a huge plus.
I think in terms of ‘dispatch rate’ usefulness in moderate IFR flying I’d put O2 top of the list, ADL, then Stormscope. I don’t think I’d be happy to navigate with the stormscope at shortish range (say sub 50nm) and avoid weather tactically, much more of a long range thing unless you combine it with radar.
The above is fairly normal for my WX500. The azimuth is roughly right and – on the occassions like this one where the wx is visible – the range tends to err on the safe side.
I am sure a radar would paint something more substantial for that CB, however…
Peter wrote:
I am sure a radar would paint something more substantial for that CB, however…
Only if you’re heading towards it; the radar won’t look to the side…
On my way from Brac to Calvi the other day I had the stormscope on strike mode and only saw a few strikes although I knew there was a CB right to the south of Elba because it appeared on the ADL130 and all airliners asked for deviations. I later saw the CB and it was definitely not something I would have liked to wander into. Had I been relying solely on the stormscope, I might have.
My opinion on stormscope is that if you see strikes you definitely do not want to go there, but they won’t keep you out of bad clouds. They are therefore of limited utility without some additional tool.
if you see strikes you definitely do not want to go there
Yes; that is the right procedure.
You can’t use a stormcope to find a hole in a wall of CBs.
One more data point for my WX500. Flying on a heading of about 250 near SFD:
Range about right, azimuth about right.
There are multiple different models of Stormscopes out there but I can only speak for the one I have which is a WX10A. Ive had it for about 30 yrs and have a lot of experience with it. It was a great tool to have when we only had that and ATC radar wx reports and vectors. A few times when ATC made a suggestion to head into a clear of rain area the SS suggested otherwise and I worked out a great routing. A couple of times the SS was clear but ATC said mod to heavy rain 12 oclock for 20 miles I had rain but a smooth ride.
I agree with NCYankees statements Ive had very similar experiences.
I am in the process of leaning the ADL 140 and integrating it with my SS. So far so good.
The one thing nobody mentioned is that you dont have to have lightening for the SS to show you areas of turbulence. If the air is turbulent it will show on the 200 NM range scatered occasional dots. Where you see the dots like that indicates turbulence. So when flying through a cumulus cloud even though it did not show dots before when you enter it you might see an occasional dot and it is turbulent. Other times Ive flown in IMC mostly stratus when the SS shows occsaional dots ahead not appearing to frequently an when you get there you hit turbulence moderate nothing major it showed you went into a Cu. Not a Cumulous nimbus.
Of course the more goodies you have the better and gives you better capability.
Ressurection of an old thread, Stormscopes are awesome…..never will remove mine… Last weekend in Belgium on Sunday afternoon widespread thunderstorms
