About a month ago I listened over the console as a pilot gave a co-worker what can only be labeled as the “pilot report from hell”. 

Mind you, we want pilot reports (PIREP)– they are frequently the only way we can verify forecasts and give anyone flying the information they really need about conditions aloft.  But when a pilot starts rambling on and on with cute, folksy conversation and often extensive descriptions and phrasing about what he sees– we have a real problem coding the information into the computer. 

 Here’s an example: 

Radio, this is N123 with a pilot report….I’m a turbo two ten RG161 over Whoachi Lake, VFR and we’re gettin’ bumped around quite a bit. We can see a cloud deck way up north and looks like there might be some rain up that way with some flashes..and back when we took off out of Podunk it was hazy and clouds were about nine thousand, right now we’ve got some clouds above us, but it’s clear at our altitude but real cold!

If someone gives you a pilot report like that – how in the heck do you put it into the computer in a format that others can understand?

A PIREP  like that takes between 10 and 15 minutes of radio time.  We would have to ask the pilot such things as What altitude?, Where  is he in reference to airports or navaids?  Are the clouds scattered, broken or overcast?  Then we have to figure out how many pilot reports to encode since he talks about both current and past portions of the flight.

In the meantime, since he called Radio instead of Flight Watch, the guy working Radio may have a couple pilots on other frequencies trying to activate or cancel flight plans and a Lifeguard needing an IFR clearance from a small remote airport.  Remember, each radio specialist is listening to 50 or more frequencies.

In this case we would recommend that the pilot should have given a pilot report for haze tops and cloud bases shortly after take-off.   Then as he began encountering the turbulence and other good information – give Flight Watch a call.   

Here is an example of a useful Pilot Report:

Radio,  N123 with a Pilot Report.

(Pause while the guy on radio has a chance to open the PIREP form)

N123, Albuquerque Radio, Go ahead.

N123 is a C172 on the Roswell 290 degree radial at 40 miles at niner thousand five hundred.  We have light chop, temperature is minus 2, scattered clouds above around 25,000.  We can see lower clouds and lightening north.  

This is easy to input and another pilot getting briefed can look at the report as it is encoded below and know exactly what this pilot wanted others to know.

ROW UA  TM/2134  OV/ROW290040  TP/C172  FL/095  SK/SCT250  TB/LGT CHOP TA/M02  RM/LOWER CLOUDS AND LTG N

The FAA requires that Flight Service encodes PIREPs perfectly – which means we have to use approved contractions, formatting and codes.  This includes such minutiae as putting a space between the / and the contraction SKC in the sky conditions area – if we don’t put that space in place, we “fail” the pilot report. 

Sometimes a pilot will call and say he wants to file a pilot report.  He gives his location and type aircraft as requested and then says “It was a beautiful flight”.  This does not really tell us anything.  If we assume that he means skies clear and negative turbulence, we are assuming this guy is not a thrill taker.  Heck, for all we know he’s an acrobatic pilot who thinks “Beautiful flight” means he got the guy in the right seat to puke

Some pilots feel compelled to lump a whole flight’s worth of complicated data into one pilot report at the end of the flight.  If a Bonanza landing Tucson took off from Texas 2 hours ago – his climbout experience is no longer pertinent.  Pilot reports are kept for only one hour in order to have the most useful and accurate information.  We would have loved to have that data – two hours ago!

If the weather is bad, then giving multiple pilot reports along the route is really helpful.  When possible, give one within half an hour of take-off, and perhaps another enroute.  Then give us one when you land and close your flight plan about the conditions during descent. 

Please use the standard phraseology – this way everyone knows how to interpret the information.  The basic information needed for a pilot report begins with the aircraft type, location, and altitude.  Only one of the optional fields needs to be added, and standard phraseology is best. 

 
The optional fields are: 

Sky Conditions – Cloud bases and tops or sky clear.

Turbulence – Negative, Light, Moderate, Severe or Extreme (NOT Smooth, “a little bit” or “I was picking my teeth off the ceiling”)   This can include the words Chop, Intermittent, Continuous, or Occasional. 

Air Temperature – in Celsius please.  This field is mandatory when giving an icing report.

Wind Vector – Direction and Speed.  You can say “southwest at 10 knots” and we will encode it as 24010kt.  Please do not say “On the nose at 10 knots”,  because we can’t see what direction your nose is pointed. 

Icing – Trace, Light, Moderate or Severe – along with Rime, Clear, or Mixed. You can give a range of altitudes if you climbed through the icing.  Frequently a pilot will say they incurred “some” icing, or “a bunch”.   Always remember that an icing report must include temperature.

Weather – This broad category includes inflight visibility, and limitations to visibility such as dust storms or haze, and includes all forms of precipitation.  Always give visibilities in whole numbers.

Remarks – Whatever doesn’t fit anywhere else.  Includes reports of Thunderstorms at a distance, comments such as During Descent or “Tossed Dog into back seat”.  There are only 77 characters allowed in this field – so please keep it to the point.

In general, a flight service specialist will listen to what is said, then try to encode it properly.  She or he may read back what they’ve encoded to verify your meaning.  When you give a range of information, they are required to submit whatever is the worst value. 

If a pilot says that the bases of the overcast are 4 to 5 thousand, Radio will encode 4 thousand.  If you say the temperature is between minus 2 and minus 3, they will encode minus 3. 

If you are wanting to give extensive data, the specialist may be forced to split it into two pilot reports.  Please be patient as he or she will need to take the time to get it all into the pilot report mask, then read it back to you for verification. If you want some more information on PIREP encoding, check out section 7-1-20 of the Airmen’s Information Manual.

Pilot Reports are our best way of communicating timely and useful weather data to other pilots, and you can help by giving us the data in a way that is easy to understand.

Rose Marie Kern works at Lockheed Martin’s ABQ AFSS.  If you’d like to ask Rose a question send her an email at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .