Pilot Weather Wisdom

A few weeks ago I chatted with John Zimmerman, who runs a huge pilot shop/training center in Ohio. Here is the intro: As a former meteorologist and a 25,000-hour airline captain, Doug Morris loves to talk about weather—but he’s worried most other pilots don’t share his love. He talks about the most misunderstood weather concept, […]

            After a recent talk, I received a copy of David McCullough’s well-researched book, The Wright Brothers. Most pilots think they know the Kitty Hawk story, but I learned I didn’t. Wilbur and Orville Wright determined early in their multitude of experiments that wind was a must. Wilbur (oldest of the two) wrote to the […]

I just received a link to my recent talk in Ottawa regarding the B787, low visibility, and aviation in general. During the talk, I was told not to move around too much. I obviously didn’t heed this advice and moved about too much. Plus, I wish they had superimposed the questions asked onto the video. […]

What a storm! When teaching weather, I frequently take the Socratic approach by asking questions. The most profound question I ask…if the surface winds are from the east, which way is the low-pressure system moving? Most of the time, I either get silence or the wrong answer. I must admit it is a loaded question, […]

November 23 saw Captain D give a presentation at Carleton University (Ottawa) for CASI. It was nice to hang around bright, upbeat people. I was very impressed with Carleton and the engineering department. Someone needs to set up an affiliated flight school/program. For decades, the ILS (Instrument Landing System) has guided pilots to safe landings […]

Airline schedules will be redirecting their flights southward as the days get shorter. You may be planning an adventuresome Caribbean cross-country flight, flying a biz jet or airliner to a sunny destination, or heading there on vacay. Flying within the Horse latitudes At around 30° north and south of the equator semi-permanent high pressure systems […]

The first page of both my weather books mentions Aristotle’s discourse (Meteorologica) written in 340 B.C. I am recently back from a Greek Island and Turkish cruise with a few days spent in Athens, Greece. Everyone wants to head the Acropolis (I did that too), but I learned about Aristotle’s Lyceum. (I had to look […]

17th-century English philosopher Sir Francis Bacon wrote, “Every wind has its weather.” The contiguous US and the southern portion of Canada sit in latitudes where the winds prevail from the west (at the surface and aloft). But this vast geographic area is also conducive to the birth of low pressure systems.   At the onset of […]

On a recent LAX layover, my F/O stood me up so I walked to Manhattan Beach where there is a pier with a small aquarium at the end. On its roof is a weather vane which triggered a thought…are weather vanes oriented to true or magnetic north? Did the builder wait until sunrise or sunset […]

Captain D was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal. Bad Atmosphere As a captain for Air Canada, pilot Captain Doug Morris has gotten plenty of practice this summer (politely) delivering bad news to passengers. Very often the blame is assigned to the weather. “Mother Nature can throw a lot of curveballs. She can challenge us,” said […]

They begin to “paint” on the weather radar and rear their ugly, ominous heads. Thunderstorms are on the horizon while flying in a remote area — perhaps over the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean or maybe cruising the thunderstorm-infested Brazil’s Amazon jungle. VHF radios are out of range, and HF (High Frequency) is nothing but […]

A non-aviator asked me what’s a sucker hole. Pilots learn not to fly through a hole (sucker hole) or near a thunderstorm, because it may fill in and get nasty. It’s a meteorological temptation. Having said that, I will take a “hole” over a wall of nasty clouds anytime.  Holes can get a pilot out of […]

I recently did a podcast with a large aviation firm, Australian Aviation. Plus they wrote a great article boosting my new book. I think both went well.

If you want to listen to a crusty 60 year old captain for over seven hours then click on the following pic. It took four days in the studio downtown Toronto to get it right. Justin Bieber, Nelly Furtado and Chris Hadfield also recorded there.

Book #4 has arrived. Captain Doug Morris has been writing for his airline’s in-flight magazine for 24 years and answered a gamut of questions. This sequel to his bestselling book, From the Flight Deck: Plane Talk andSky Science, explains everything you wanted to know about airline travel, such as: Do airliners have keys? What do […]