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Airborne integrity check – Certain aspects of radar performance can only be verified by a qualified maintenance facility. However, some malfunctions or problems resulting in system decay may only manifest themselves in-flight. The airborne integrity check is used to check basic operating parameters and gives pilots an opportunity to discover potential problems as early as possible.
Reflectivity – Radar returns are predicated on the reflective qualities of a target. Not all threats meet the minimum thresholds of reflectivity and thus may go undetected by the radar. Dry hail is a classic example. We discuss the reflectivity characteristics of various hydrometeors. This provides insight as to why some potentially hazardous threats might not be detected/displayed by the radar. This is one of the most important blocks of information.
Geographic considerations – "Red" on a radar display may represent different threats depending on the geographic location and the weather synopsis. All red contains some level of hazard; however, some areas of red warrant a wider margin of safety than others.
Attenuation – Failure to recognize attenuation of radar energy is one of the most hazardous operational errors a pilot can make. Attenuation may manifest itself differently depending on the situation. We provide a basic explanation of attenuation, what causes it, and operational techniques pilots may employ.
Tilt - defined – Tilt control is one of the most important concepts to understand. We discuss basic tilt concepts that provide the foundation for operational employment.
Tilt techniques – The only tilt techniques that are "wrong" are those that are arbitrary and blindly utilized. We will demonstrate how to make a severe storm disappear from the radar display using nothing more than subtle changes to the tilt control. We provide tilt techniques that may be employed when a more detailed analysis of a target is warranted. Most importantly, we provide pilots with the information needed to use tilt in a calculated and methodical manner.
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