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Answers: Weather balloons and airplanes
Q: Hi, I enjoyed "Rise Up" in the March 2010 AOPA Flight Training magazine. I wonder about the danger of those weather balloons and noted your comments about there being "no danger" as it's floating down under parachute. But really, hasn't there ever been an incident or accident associated with one of these balloons where one of them (either... »
Answers: Wind direction
Q: In your article in the January 2010 issue of AOPA Flight Training, you say: "If the lines on a weather map showing air pressures of 500 millibars and 496 millibars were straight and parallel, the PGF and Coriolis forces would soon balance and the wind would flow parallel to the lines of equal atmospheric force." I thought that air... »
Answers: Rising and Sinking Air
Q: In your AOPA Flight Training Magazine, January 2010 article you say that the curving path of upper air winds cause air to sink in some areas, creating high pressure at the surface, and to rise in other areas creating or strengthening areas of low pressure at the surface. My question: How does adding rising air to an area, which... »
Answers: Inside Weather Fronts
Q: In the November issue of AOPA Flight Training, you discuss extratropical cyclones, including the movement of cold air under warm air and vice versa. If I understand this correctly, the fronts themselves do not discriminate between the cold or warm air ahead of them. How do you explain movement under (cold into warm) or movement over (warm into cold)? Kevin,... »
