Days Before Arrival at Airport

1. Watch weather on TV.
2. Look at clouds when outdoors or at window.
3. Note speed of changes of weather in week before flight.

Before Arrival at Airport

1. Weather Briefing, FSS, DUATS, or Private Met.
2. Winds aloft for flight plan.
3. Crosswind component at both airports, alternate?
4. Density altitude at all airports in season.
5. Temp-dew point Spreads.
6. Ceiling and visibility minimums - beginning, en-route and end.
7. Check AWOS/ASOS if available.

Arriving at Airport

1. Note clouds, visibility, precip, virga.
2. When parked, note cloud speed and direction.
3. If there are two layers of clouds going in different directions, estimate warming, cooling.
4. Surface winds, is crosswind component estimate correct?
5. Is temperature different from that used in calculations?
6. Thunderstorms visible?
7. Surface; snow, standing water, snowmelt freezing on surface?
8. If "severe clear" are there any dust-devils?
9. Is weather conducive to what you want to do?

After Preflight and Runup

1. Is OAT nearly same as temp used to calculate takeoff length?
2. Check windsock for changes.
3. Any thunderstorms visible?

Aloft - Every half hour or so make an active check

1. Check Flight Watch occasionally; have them on the second radio.
2. Look at sky and winds on DME to see if they jibe with forecast, recalculate consumption if needed, adjust filed flight plan if needed.
3. At night, check lights on ground for signs of fog.
4. Look for signs of convection, lightning even in winter.
5. Check Icing/OAT.

Arrival

Can you make a comfortable, safe landing, taxi and tie-down?