Reading METAR, TAF and NOTAMs — transcript

00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:05.363 Three coded messages can decide your drone job. Let's read them in plain English.

00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:12.254 A METAR is the weather now. A TAF is the forecast. A NOTAM is temporary news,

00:00:12.254 --> 00:00:18.198 such as an airspace change. All three are in a NAIPS briefing, with times in UTC.

00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:24.704 Our job: a roof inspection just east of Kingaroy aerodrome, from eleven till one,

00:00:24.704 --> 00:00:25.451 local time.

00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:33.543 The METAR. Y K R Y: Kingaroy. The twentieth, at zero zero three zero UTC.

00:00:33.543 --> 00:00:41.331 Add ten hours for Queensland: ten thirty a.m. Wind from one six zero degrees true,

00:00:41.331 --> 00:00:42.927 at twelve knots.

00:00:43.277 --> 00:00:47.357 Nine nine nine nine: visibility ten kilometres or more.

00:00:47.357 --> 00:00:53.333 Few cloud at three thousand feet above the aerodrome, scattered at five thousand.

00:00:53.333 --> 00:00:58.872 Temperature twenty-five, dew point eighteen. A small gap would warn of fog.

00:00:59.222 --> 00:01:00.835 The TAF is the forecast.

00:01:00.835 --> 00:01:06.319 It's valid for twenty-four hours from midnight UTC on the twentieth: ten a.m. local.

00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:09.932 Wind one six zero at ten knots, ten kilometres or more,

00:01:09.932 --> 00:01:12.126 scattered cloud at four thousand.

00:01:14.022 --> 00:01:18.895 Then the catch. TEMPO: temporary periods, each under an hour.

00:01:18.895 --> 00:01:23.298 Zero four to zero eight UTC is two till six p.m. local.

00:01:23.298 --> 00:01:28.093 Variable wind gusting thirty knots, thunderstorms with rain,

00:01:28.093 --> 00:01:30.923 and broken cloud at three thousand.

00:01:31.273 --> 00:01:36.380 Quick check. TEMPO twenty zero four to twenty zero eight. In Queensland,

00:01:36.380 --> 00:01:37.359 when is that?

00:01:37.709 --> 00:01:39.616 Two till six p.m.

00:01:40.709 --> 00:01:46.097 Now the NOTAM. Q is a coded summary: the Brisbane FIR, a position,

00:01:46.097 --> 00:01:52.450 and a one nautical mile radius. Line A is Kingaroy. B and C are start and end,

00:01:52.450 --> 00:01:58.159 in UTC. Add ten: eleven a.m. till one p.m., on the twentieth of March.

00:01:58.509 --> 00:02:03.997 E is plain language: an unmanned aircraft, two hundred metres east of the field,

00:02:03.997 --> 00:02:09.145 inspecting a building and monitoring the CTAF. F and G set the height band:

00:02:09.145 --> 00:02:12.668 the surface to two hundred feet above ground level.

00:02:13.709 --> 00:02:18.235 Now test it against our job. Same time. Our roof is inside its circle.

00:02:18.235 --> 00:02:22.251 Same height band. All three overlap, so this NOTAM affects us.

00:02:24.709 --> 00:02:29.986 So call the contact number and agree who flies when. Both crews monitor the CTAF.

00:02:31.709 --> 00:02:35.156 The weather is good until two. If you can't coordinate,

00:02:35.156 --> 00:02:39.157 waiting runs into the storm window. So don't launch: reschedule.

00:02:39.157 --> 00:02:41.558 And record what you checked, and when.

00:02:43.309 --> 00:02:49.958 METAR is now. TAF is next. NOTAMs are temporary. Convert UTC, and test time,

00:02:49.958 --> 00:02:51.512 place and height.

00:02:51.862 --> 00:02:55.859 Final check. In a METAR, what does nine nine nine nine mean?

00:02:57.562 --> 00:02:59.547 Visibility ten kilometres or more.