I normally don't kiss and tell, but in my opinion this was so far over the top that its worth sharing.
A few weeks ago, on a dark and stormy night, I jumpseated in a regional jet to my home in the Midwest. Now, I'm familiar with the practice of aiming the wx radar down to paint ground clutter in the outer 1/4 of the screen, and then any returns that come out of that clutter is considered precipitation. This crew had the radar turned so far down that practically the whole screen was ground clutter. So the flat land was painting green and the towns came back as yellow/red.
Well, we circumnavigated some returns(small towns) in Indiana, but when we came to the big red/purple blob with the VOR symbol and the letters VHP in the center, I thought they would question the display...NOOOO...we circumnavigated Indianapolis!!!
The captain asked me to use the headset, so I heard their whole discussion. They really thought they were avoiding thunderstorms! I make it a practice to sit there and not make any comments unless safety is involved, or the crew wants to chat, so I simply said, thanks for the ride and went on my way.
I didn't think it was my place to comment on their lack of understanding. Notice I've left out the airline, aircraft type, city pair, etc. I just hope some people read this post and review some of their radar practices...
I'll probably get ripped for posting this, but so be it...
A few weeks ago, on a dark and stormy night, I jumpseated in a regional jet to my home in the Midwest. Now, I'm familiar with the practice of aiming the wx radar down to paint ground clutter in the outer 1/4 of the screen, and then any returns that come out of that clutter is considered precipitation. This crew had the radar turned so far down that practically the whole screen was ground clutter. So the flat land was painting green and the towns came back as yellow/red.
Well, we circumnavigated some returns(small towns) in Indiana, but when we came to the big red/purple blob with the VOR symbol and the letters VHP in the center, I thought they would question the display...NOOOO...we circumnavigated Indianapolis!!!
The captain asked me to use the headset, so I heard their whole discussion. They really thought they were avoiding thunderstorms! I make it a practice to sit there and not make any comments unless safety is involved, or the crew wants to chat, so I simply said, thanks for the ride and went on my way.
I didn't think it was my place to comment on their lack of understanding. Notice I've left out the airline, aircraft type, city pair, etc. I just hope some people read this post and review some of their radar practices...
I'll probably get ripped for posting this, but so be it...