European PIREPs ?

Yes PIREP to me is the system in the US which involves pilots reporting actual weather to the controller who the enters it int the system for access by FSS…who pass it on as requested on the radio and via phone and DUAT briefings….it does not exist in Europe (or anywhere else I know of)

Having said that, I do make appoint of telling A/G and AFIS the actual weather (cloud base mainly) in the vicinity of uncontrolled fields if it is noteworthy….i do hear thi passed on sometimes

pffiiieeww
who says?
www.eddh.de/info/pireps.html
is full of pirep’s. And please don’t come bloating that it is not in your language.
I appreciate the job you are doing, but please do not pretend you are the inventor of hot water.

Thank you all for replying! It’s true, the exact definition of PIREP is: “A pilot report or PIREP is a report of actual weather conditions encountered by an aircraft in flight.”

Also, as of today, there are very few if any pilot reports in Europe. Just to make clear the importance of a PIREP, allow me to give the following example: Imagine you are about to fly, during your flight planning, you check PIREP Pro app, and see that there is a pilot report from 15 min ago of severe turbulence and thunderstorm with rain and it appears to be exactly along your flight route. With that piece of fresh information, you can actually change your flight plan accordingly. Moreover, a PIREP can include the following info: Turbulence, Icing, Thunderstorms, Winds, Clouds, Visibility, and Temperature.

If we can get many pilots to use PIREP Pro app, there will be many pilot reports in Europe… something that will add another level of safety in flight. Pilot reports are extremely useful and the best part of them, is that they are being made by pilots like you and me. In other words, pilot reports are what the pilot see and feel during a flight, translated into text.

If there will be a success on the iOS platform, I will develop an Android version. As for now, there are not many users from Europe. Please share this with your pilot friends and let them know the potential of a new PIREPs system in Europe.

I hope I made it more clear, and I hope that you understand the potential of using PIREP Pro app. If you have any questions, please let me know!
Roy.

The tone of this thread is much like most of those on the wrinkled plum – not a sign of things to come I hope.

Hi Roy,

The difference between flying and driving on the road is that I have an internet connection during my road trip.
What point is it to report cloud tops, turbulence or icing after arrival? This is usually 3 to 4 hours later.

I have to say that PIREP to me means a formal PIREP reported to ATC and available either from the ground a la USA or from controllers.

We have had that in Europe for decades too (both on the ground and in the air) and it works perfectly well. Even app-less.

I am not sure an App based PIREP system will realistically ever have enough data points to bother with. If it did it could be useful.

I see absolutely no point in setting up a parallel system to an already existing one. Every aviation weather app on every mobile device will display PIREPS upon request. If pilots would report encounters with weather phenomena then they would be distributed. Even low flying aircraft can contact someone (flight information service or the radio operator of the nearest airfield) who will happily pass on their report to the competent meteorological unit. You just have to pick up your microphone and talk…

I have already made a few pilots reports concerning wheather, especially thunderstorms, or the position of a cloud layer, along seashore for exemple, or turbulence. For IMC flying pilots it could of course also include icing reports…
I report the situation to the FIS or the ATC I’m in contact with, because they are the most likely to be able to pass the information on to other pilots.

Would it be convenient to monitor an iphone app when flying, expecting a potential PIREP, or to report something using such a tiny keyboard? Not in my opinion. And moreover, wheather pilots reports are real time information. They turn out of date very quickly.

That’s why I think that the radio is the best way to report such wheather related situations. And even in G class airspace there is always someone on the ground to talk to, with which many if not most pilots in the vicinity will be in contact.

I can guess the amount of work such an app involves and Roy should be thanked for doing it, but is there really any point in developping it?

Edit : well it seems that “what next” was writing his post while I was writing mine. We essentially agree.

think the USA has a formal system for PIREP (airborne weather) distribution, accessible via a radio call to ATC, which Europe doesn’t have.

I believe the very same system exists in Europe, it is just less well known among pilots. User of pc_met from the German Weather Office have access to the current PIREPs as submitted by ATC/FIS across Europe. I have added a gateway to this in my custom briefing app which I use via satellite in the cockpit. A lookup produces the current reports at the moment:

$$PIREP$$ 
EDZO 
$$201312090921$$ 

964 
UADL61 EDZO 090921 

ARS 090921 SEV ACFT MOD ICE OBS AT 0920Z N5220 E01345 (10 NM E OF 
EDDB) FL080/180 

=

$$PIREP$$ 
ETNS 
$$201312090845$$ 

171 
UXEM20 ETGT 090854 
PIREP 
ETNS OVR ETNS 0845 ASC BKN003/040, BKN060/U= 


$$PIREP$$ 
LIIB 
$$201312090855$$ 

192 
UAIY61 LIIB 090855 
AIREP SPECIAL 
A320 REP MOD TURB AT FL340 OVER ROTAR AT 0840= 


$$PIREP$$ 
EKCH 
$$201312090804$$ 

277 
UADN41 EKCH 090804 
ARP GLEX FBL TURB OBS AT 0759Z OHD EKCH FL150= 

I am not aware of any other means of accessing this data which is rather unfortunate. Looking at the data every now and then, I notice that a large percentage of PIREPs come from US crews.

I am not aware of any other means of accessing this data which is rather unfortunate.

Most pilots do it by asking the controller they are in contact with “Any turbulence/thunderstorm/icing reports on our route?”. Then there is ATIS where PIREPS in the terminal area will be included, like icing or windshear. And all commercial briefing packages (i.e. those provided by PPS) include PIREPS. We get ours by email onto the iPads.

Asking for the data is one thing and not really a problem.

The bigger issue that apparently European pilots are not used to provide a report in the first place. I don’t know how and when US pilots learn about PIREPs but I assume it is taught during PPL training or at least when someone trains for the IR.

What does Europeans prevent from providing a PIREP? Personally I’m training for my IR and once I have it and start climbing up through clouds I would happily report cloud tops and other observations.

Or is there some reluctancy out of fear to be caught with something (maybe ice in the non FIKI SEP) and so people prefer to sail in silence? I remember a conversation on a US forum about just the icing PIREP and people concluded that there is nothing wrong with reporting an icing encounter when it was not forecasted in the area/altitude. However, fear is powerful.

Maybe our numbers are just too small. Me in an SR22 at FL120 does not benefit much from reports by A320 captains at FL240 or higher. So it may be simply a matter of not enough GA traffic in the altitudes used by SEPs why there aren’t any PIREPs.

Ever since I learned about the concept of PIREPs I have been wondering about the lack of them in Europe.