MART Vol. II MO/MP - NESA - Civil Air Patrol

thorough weather briefing before flying, and update the briefing by radio withFlight Watch (122.0 MHz) as required.Blowing dust is normally found in the relatively dry areas of the country, likethe desert southwest. The condition develops when strong wind picks up smallsoil particles, and strong air currents carry it upward into the atmosphere. Theseconditions can spread dust hundreds of miles and up to 15,000 feet. Dependingupon wind speed and particle volume, visibility in dust storms may be reduced tovery low levels. Blowing sand is much more localized than dust, occurring onlywhen the wind is strong enough to lift loose sand. Since sand particles are muchheavier than dust they are rarely lifted more than 50 feet above the surface. Still,the condition eliminates the effectiveness of visual searches, and in many casescan prohibit an aircraft from taking off or landing.Strong surface winds can also cause blowing snow. Blowing snow is morefrequent in areas where dry, powdery snow is found. For the aviator, blowingsnow can cause the same problems of reduced visibility. Like dust, it can reachthousands of feet above the surface.Snow can cause another visibility problem, known as “white out.” Thiscondition can occur anywhere there is snow-covered ground, but is most commonin arctic regions. It's not a physical obstruction to visibility like earlier examples,but an optical phenomenon. White out requires a snow-covered surface and lowlevelclouds of uniform thickness. At low sun angles, light rays are diffused asthey penetrate the cloud layer causing them to strike the snow-covered surface atmany angles and eliminating all shadows. The net effects are loss of a visiblehorizon and loss of depth perception, each of which can make low-level flight andlandings difficult and hazardous.From this discussion, it becomes obvious that each member of the aircrewmust be vigilant during all phases of the flight when visibility is less than perfect.Crew resource management requires that each member of the crew be assignedan area to search during the takeoff, transit and approach-to-landing phases ofthe flight in order to help the pilot "see and avoid" obstacles and other aircraft.The aircrew must also characterize visibility in the search area so as toestablish the proper scanning range. Search visibility may be different thanexpected, and your search pattern may have to be adjusted accordingly. Be sureto cover this during your debriefing.3.5 TurbulenceTurbulence is irregular atmospheric motion or disturbed wind flow that can beattributed to a number of causes. Under almost all circumstances, small amountsof normal atmospheric turbulence can be expected and it usually poses fewproblems. Previous sections covered wake turbulence and convective activity ascauses of turbulence. Convective activity was covered in the context ofthunderstorm development, but any phenomenon that causes air to be lifted up,even a hot asphalt parking lot, can cause convective turbulence. Other causesinclude obstructions to wind flow and wind shear.Just as a tree branch dangling into a stream creates continuous ripples orwaves of turbulence in the water’s surface, obstructions to the wind can createturbulence in the air. This type of turbulence occurs mostly close to the ground,although depending upon wind velocity and the nature of the obstruction, it mayreach upward several thousand feet. In an extreme case, when winds blow55