Recently, the FAA formally announced that they would be removing a number of test questions from the Private Pilot Knowledge Test. These test questions included a number of weather related questions concerning Radar Summary Charts and TWEBs (Transcribed Weather Broadcast). This notice from the FAA got me thinking about these and some other weather products that have gone away in the last few years and what has come along to serve the same or a similar purpose. I’ll touch on the TWEB and Radar Summary Chart in this post and perhaps touch on some others in a future post.

One of aviation's defining characteristics is its acronyms. FAR, ILS, PTS, WAAS and hundreds more fill our flying conversations, and often confuse new pilots. At the risk of adding to the confusion, I'd like to suggest one more, but it won't be on the Knowledge Test. FTFA, loosely translated to Fly The Freaking Airplane, has come in handy dozens of times over the course of my flying career.

None of us are perfect. I’m probably less perfect than most,…