577nitro

Anybody using XM Weather on a regular basis and if so how well is it working? What products are you using? How do you use it compared to the ships radar? Just looking for some real world stuff here on how useful it is when dogging the big stuff.

Nitro

thrustsetrj200

I used XM weather a lot when I was a flight instructor. We had them in our DA42 Twin Stars. I definitely prefer them over the onboard radar. If we could have both onboard and XM available it would be ultimate. The only problem was that the XM was delayed. Up to 5 minutes. We all know how quickly storms can move and build in 5 minutes.

Killer51883

no airline is willing to put up the money to cover the monthly fee of xm

BoilerUP

Which is stupidly sad, because the XM Aviator subscription is only $50/month per airplane...assuming you have something to display it on (pretty sure Honeywell Epic will work, not sure about Primus or ProLine4).

We use it on our CJ2+; XM weather (and IFIS) integrated into ProLine21 is the greatest thing since sliced bread when it comes to flying in inclement weather. Consider the XM NEXRAD as a strategic tool, allowing you to see cell development & movement and make decisions based on weather well down the road, while ship's radar is tactical for picking your way through a line and getting a better idea on the actual intensity of a cell (because XM makes weather look at least one degree more intense than a WSI or Intellicast-style composite display). Having used it on a Garmin 496 in a Citation II, in our Cirrus with Avidyne displays, and now integrated into PL21 on the CJ, I can't imagine flying in the summer without it.

Our system will also display at-a-glance weather for airports with reporting (useful to see where is VFR/MVFR/IFR/LIFR), graphical winds aloft to FL420, visible moisture satellite images (with NEXRAD overlay), METAR/TAF, and Airmet/Sigments.

USMCFLYR

I heard the same thing so many years ago about TCAS. "Why do we need something on board to tell us where traffic is....we have our eyeballs and ATC" It seems you just never know what circumstances may dictate and what seemed like folly a few years ago is now common place.

USMCFLYR

FlyerJosh

The irony of it is that XM pays for itself in a very short period of time based on fuel savings from shorter deviations around weather.

We use it on our Citation Encore (not as lucky as BoilerUP- ours isn't integrated). It's piped into the Fujitsu EFB's that we use and displayed over top of the Jepp Charts (Enroute and Terminal).

Best thing since sliced bread.

AmericanEagleFO

It's the testing and approval that gets expensive go the 121 world. Not to mention you have to find a way to display it without upgrading to a whole new avionics suite. Our planes don't even have gps, much less xm weather.

BoilerUP

Its actually pretty easy - all one needs is an Electronic Flight Bag. Approach and enroute charts, performance, w&b, and yes XM weather overlay.

As many as have been approved for Part 135, there's BOUND to be an affordable way for Part 121...

flyboyzz1

SKW just announced that they are getting EFBs for the CRJs over the next 2 years... wonder if this is an option...

cgtpilot

We've got The Weather Channel piped into our airplanes...very nice! Only on the A320s though.