What's wrong with this PIREP?
First of all, this pilot report was relayed through the Kansas City ARTCC (Center) based on the remark (RM FM ZKC). Therefore, it is always possible that the Flight Service Station (FSS) specialist didn't enter it properly or it got lost in the translation from the pilot through ATC. It happens. Take a look at the PIREP below. From an icing perspective, what's wrong with this PIREP? Short of a FSS glitch or ATC translation issue, what could the pilot have done better to improve the quality or value of this PIREP? MCI UA/OV MCI080020/TM 0135/FLUNKN/TP B712/SK OVCUNKN-TOP115/TA M04/TB SMOOTH/IC LGT RIME/RM FM ZKC Yes Mike, I AM a pilot, more importantly, a Flight Instuctor. Are you able to even decipher the PIREP?
Aircraft - 6 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
The PIREP lacks altitude information, even though this is imperative for turbulence or icing reports (and indeed is vital for just about any useful PIREP). Hopefully it just got lost, since any pilot should know his altitude.
2 :
Just report the jackass troll... "Never get into a fight with a pig... you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it." Lack of altitude information makes the report almost useless...
3 :
At its most basic form, a PIREP should tell a header (routine or urgent), the time of report, the aircraft position or location, --FLIGHT LEVEL,-- the aircraft type and (sometimes) fuel burn. Other useful info are ambient temp., skycover, wind velocity, etc. Sometimes our line aircraft also collect Met. data through aircraft nav. systems and onboard static pressure probes and send out AMDAR data signals via ACARS.
4 :
Just a bad pirep all together. Starting from the top, I'm not up to speed on all the ac identifiers, but I can't figure out what a b712 is. Maybe this is my own ignorance. If it's a Boeing, I would want to know. If it is a butchered up way of saying c172, that is very different. Sky is overcast unknown with reported tops? What is unknown there. Missing altitude information, that's important. Turbulence is "smooth". That's descriptive but not very standard. I kind of like it actually. Completely useless pirep. But it happens...
5 :
Google B712 and it comes up with the B717... I had no idea. Maybe he didn't know what he was getting into when climbing and didn't catch the altitude when entering the cloud... but realized he was picking up the light rime in cloud. Once he saw it, he noted the tops in order to get out of it. So the Pirep could prove useful to someone thinking of heading easterly from MCI and planning IFR. I guess his altitude at the time of reporting was irrelevant; the IC LGT RIME would be the most important. That's my line of thinking anyway; many here have way more IFR time than myself. ADDED: I still tend to disagree with the posters saying it is "useless". Unless I am mistaken, the "IC" stands for "in cloud". Therefore, a potential flier could either read the ceilings from a METAR, get a rough idea from a TAF, or see first hand where they are by flying. What's important is that the PIREP is clearly indicating that the icing phenomena IS occurring.
6 :
As every one has said it is basically useless due to the fact that there is no altitude information given in regards to his current altitude as well as the altitude range of the icing report. You could probably assume however that any ice that he reportedly accumulated he most likely picked up below his current altitude (which we are still completely unsure about) due to the fact that the reported temp is -4° (assuming that the temp he gave was at his currently altitude) and any visible moisture that would be encountered SHOULD be frozen already. But again none of that matters unless you know where he's at.
Title : What's wrong with this PIREP
Description : What's wrong with this PIREP? First of all, this pilot report was relayed through the Kansas City ARTCC (Center) based on the remark (...