Customer Reviews

Climatology for Airline Pilots

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I write this review as an international airline pilot for well over a decade now, and as an armchair meteorologist. The concepts of global circulation and other topics covered in the first few chapters of this book are very well explained and worthwhile.

The second portion, where the author delves excessively into the climatology of specific routes is of little value for an actual line pilot. It might be of some use to someone developing the airlines overall route structure and schedule, but it's actual application to line flying is virtually nil. It doesn't matter that city X typically receives 30mm of rainfall during April and May and that the winds are out of the southwest - what matters as a line pilot is what the weather actually WILL BE when I am arriving or departing on a given day, and what it will actually be while I am enroute. To that end, the latter portion of this book is virtually worthless. It fails to offer any useful information to assist one in utilizing the observed weather and prognostic information and reconciling that with the climatological patterns to promote a deeper understanding of the atmospheric dynamics on a given day. Instead it presents the information as if it should be memorized and filed away for rote recall. Really useless trivia.

The volume would be worthwhile for the presentation of the concepts in the first portion, for perhaps $20 to $30. The going price on this book bears no relation to the usefulness of the information presented.

I've attempted to post this review two times previously, hopefully this time it will stay up in spite of the fact that it is rather critical of this volume. If the sellers or publisher don't like the review, perhaps they should alter the price or the content.