Sport Pilot Talk

Here is a new weather tool I just learned about. It was designed for helicopters (specifically medivac) who need large area information and may land off airport or in places that don't have weather stations available. It covers 6000' and below which is where most of us low and slow folks operate. I learned about this through a commercial drone pilot newsletter, but it's probably the most comprehensive one stop weather application I have seen from NOAA. Obviously, it's not a replacement for a full weather brief, but it's a good resource. https://www.aviationweather.gov/hemst

Looks interesting, will have to play with it this winter. Too clear here today to get a good feel of its accuracy.

Send some if that clear weather here! It's been miserable the last couple weeks! Yesterday it snowed in North Louisiana, East Texas and South Arkansas. Freezing levels were less than 2000' solid IFR. Rained 10" at my house last week alone!

I saw that a few weeks ago, too. I think it can be a really useful tool, but so far I haven't been able to figure out all it can do. According to a source, you can enter a proposed route, origin to destination, and get a comprehensive picture of current and forecasted conditions. That would be just too cool. Apparently, MEDEVAC pilots make use of that feature. Maybe there's a tutorial somewhere?

I attended a webinar from Helicopter Ground School that gave a very good overview of the HEMS tool. They might have a reference to the recording at http://www.helicopterground.com.