Pilots as Weather Briefers: The Direct Use of Aviation Weather Products by General Aviation Pilots

When planning a flight, pilots have traditionally consulted with trained weather briefers who gather, select, review, and to some extent interpret aviation weather products for them. Today, pilots can directly access these same weather products from their own computers, aircraft cockpits, and mobile devices, and choose to skip the services offered by weather briefers. A sample of 191 general aviation pilots completed a survey designed to determine how frequently they directly access weather products, how frequently they still consult with weather briefers, and which weather products pilots use and why. We identified a subset of surveyed pilots who usually or always rely solely on directly accessed weather products (approximately 25%). Although these self-briefing pilots trend toward holding higher grades of pilot certificates and make greater use of cockpit weather systems, they do not differ from other pilots in the weather products they review, and they prefer simple weather observations to more complex forecasts and descriptions of larger weather systems such as fronts and pressure regions. We explore the reasons why self-briefing pilots choose to review the products they do, and how the next generation of pilots might best be trained and supported.