NOT JUST PRETTY PICTURES

摘要

In-cockpit weather data via datalink-whether delivered by XM WX Data, WSI InFlight services or through other vendors-has been a revolutionary safety enhancement. Although the ability still exists-for now, anyway-gone are the "old days" of trying to extract information nuggets from a scratchy transcribed weather broadcast over a VOR frequency, or waiting for a distant FSS briefer to get around to you on Flight Watch. Of course, all of this occurred as we watched the DME's groundspeed readout slow and the fuel gauges bounce closer to empty. Fun times.