Determining Cloud Tops

[taters]

With ice season quickly approaching in the midwest I was wondering what are the best methods other than a pirep to determine cloud tops for flight planning and go/no-go decisions. The a/c I fly is not known ice but does have TKS.

Thanks

 

[time builder]

Tough one without a pirep.

IR satellite and Radar Summary images will usually help you find the high clouds (say over 30,000), I'm interested to hear if anyone has any cool tricks for estimating tops of lower clouds.

 

[dogismycopilot]

the FA (area forecast) has tops.

 

[aveator]

well, if you take your thumb and put it on the glareshield and line the top of your thumb with the tops, now it gets tricky, you have to not move your head for the most part, give it a min or 2 if the tops go below your thumb youll be above, if the tops dont move, youll be right in the tops, if the tops go above your thumb, youre in it, sounds kinda hokie but at 450 you dont want to be in that sh*t, trust me it works for me. hope it helps

 

[CaravanMan]

well, if you take your thumb and put it on the glareshield and line the top of your thumb with the tops, now it gets tricky, you have to not move your head for the most part, give it a min or 2 if the tops go below your thumb youll be above, if the tops dont move, youll be right in the tops, if the tops go above your thumb, youre in it, sounds kinda hokie but at 450 you dont want to be in that sh*t, trust me it works for me. hope it helps

That's kinda cool, I'm gonna try that!

 

[bizjet800]

well, if you take your thumb and put it on the glareshield and line the top of your thumb with the tops, now it gets tricky, you have to not move your head for the most part, give it a min or 2 if the tops go below your thumb youll be above, if the tops dont move, youll be right in the tops, if the tops go above your thumb, youre in it, sounds kinda hokie but at 450 you dont want to be in that sh*t, trust me it works for me. hope it helps

A bug on the windshield works better than a thumb!