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Marvin Kaye wrote:
Posted for "Bryan J. Burr" <bjburr@mwheli.com>:
Sounds like a good argument to go with XM Weather (WxWorx) and "S" mode transponders for traffic.
Actually I have both in my GlaStar, but they are limited. Mode S is fine where there is reception, but even just cruising across Ohio there are many areas with no coverage. I considered the passive Ryan TCAD 9900B because it works whenever a transponder is interrogated by Center or approach, providing that you are in US radar coverage. However I went with the active TAS 9900BX because it is on and interrogating all the time and everywhere. Means I only have to look out for ultralights, and gliders, and balloons, and sky divers, (and things that go bump/crash in the night). Good thing that the ES-P has large windows. The NexRad weather depiction on WSI and WxWorks is a great planning tool for domestic flights. However the cell position is based on aged precip density and the lightning strikes are limited to air-ground. The in-cloud strikes are not depicted. And NexRad peters out when a bit off shore. Flying beyond Cuba to the Cayman Islands and into the southern Bahamas is without any radar returns or lighting detection, hence my need for real-time everywhere-available info. (And again, I will appreciate those big windows!) My GlaStar has an Insight Strikefinder but at present the Cheltons in my ES-P require the likes of a WX500. If I had the available weight and the room and the bucks I might even install onboard radar, but I don't so I won't. ;-) Robert M. Simon, ES-P (xl) N301ES
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