Weather plays a key role in aviation. Storms can completely change when your flight is available to leave and in extreme cases can cause serious damage to aircraft. Other types of weather events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, squall lines, and even the simple cloud can cause serious issues to the average VFR pilot. Clouds are the weather sign points in the sky after all.
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| Cumulonimbus cloud Photo by Corbis Premium |
Different types of clouds include altostratus, altocumulus, cirrus, cirrostratus, cirrocumulus, cumulus, towering cumulus, and the most dangerous type cumulonimbus. Cumulonimbus clouds are the most dangerous to aircraft due to their strong updrafts with gusts exceeding 100mph. Inside of these clouds are super-cooled water droplets which instantly freeze to an airplanes surface.
When an air mass moves out of its original region it is called a front. A front is basically a different temperature mass of air that moves into another area with a difference in temperature. Fronts are divided into warm and cold. A cold front is defined as a front that moves into displace warmer air. A warm front displaces cold air in the same way. When we have both cold and warm front collide we call it an occluded front.
Thunderstorms are said to be the most dangerous type of threat to aircraft. They can contain strong gusts, icing, hail, rain, lightning, and even tornadoes. Thunderstorms can be single-cell, multi-cell, or super-cells. In some circumstances thunderstorms can form in lines called squall lines. These are extremely dangerous to aircraft and should be avoided. Thunderstorms go through three stages: cumulus, mature, and dissipating. Most storms go through this entire cycle in as little as an hour. This doesn’t mean that other storms won’t form in the mean time.
The Aeryon Scout or the flying camera as it is so accurately named, was developed from 2007 to 2009 in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. What sets the scout apart from other UAVs in its class is its design which was developed to allow it to operate consistently in harsh and unpredictable weather conditions. The craft has been recorded enduring wind speeds up to 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph) and extreme temperatures ranging from -30°C to +50°C. Weighing in at less than 3lb and powered by four brush less DC motors and which has almost silent operation, The Scout has the ability to be operated beyond the line of sight at up to 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) away from the system, with an operational altitude of 300 to 500 feet and average flying speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour (31 miles per hour). Among other abilities the Scout requires no launch equipment and can hover in a fixed position for precise observation due to its vertical take-off and landing VTOL quad-rotor.
