Albinati Aeronautics S.A.

5 Types of Weather Conditions that Affect Private Jet Flights

When you are flying, delays due to weather conditions are very frustrating, but sometimes they are inevitable.

Under rough weather conditions, pilots, air traffic controllers and air charter agents work together to find alternative solutions that preserve the safety of your flight.

In many occasions a solution comes promptly, but sometimes flights must be rescheduled until the weather is better.

If you are wondering what types of weather can affect your plans when you rent a private jet, here is a list of the five most common types:

• 1. Thunderstorms
  These produce very dangerous flying conditions, such as strong windblasts and tornadoes.
  Pilots use great caution to avoid thunderstorms, and it may happen that sometimes they just cannot reach their final destination.
  In these cases, your flight must be delayed until a safe solution is found - clearance into another airport, flying around the storm, etc. - or until the storm subsides.
• 2. Fog
  It normally causes delayed and even cancelled flights, because fog considerably reduces visibility conditions that threaten your safety in the air.

• 3. Tropical Storms
  Hurricanes, cyclones and tropical depressions can get flights delayed or cancelled due to strong windblasts, torrential rains, and their unpredictable nature.
  Airports normally close during such storms; in order to avoid putting you in danger, private flights try to depart before the storm hits.
• 4. Snow and ice
  These two meteorological events raise two potential threats:
  - If these are not plowed off runways, they can increase minimum takeoff and landing distances, increasing the time it takes for jets to safely take off and land, thus causing delays.
  - When ice forms on a jet, it changes the wing's shape and alters the flow of air over the plane, increasing weight and reducing lift capacity.
  To avoid these problems, pilots de-ice the jet before departing, which requires time, and they normally use larger airports during the winter because these are usually sufficiently and correctly equipped to plow snow quickly off runways but also offer to keep the planes in hangars.
• 5. Turbulence
  This does not represent a big threat for a jet, however turns to be very uncomfortable for the passengers; your pilots may decide to alter the route or fly higher to make it more comfortable for the passengers, which may delay the flight.
  Nevertheless, pilots normally carry our accurate analysis of the weather patterns in advance in order to determine the smoothest course to your destination.