I believe that in the case of low flying VFR pilots (where a mobile data connection is possible) such a real-time service, if widespread, would be useful.
- Look, don’t fly over that mountain, the guy that passed it 15’ ago, with approximately the same route and similar a/c type, said it was bumpy, better take the longer way to avoid.
or
- Hey, 5 pilots that landed at the same small airfield that we are headed said that… and all this info is only 30’ old… and there is no ATC… and we are flying there for our first time and are unaware of the peculiarities of the area…
etc.
This info might never find its way to an official PIREP, why not reach an unofficial one?
What does Europeans prevent from providing a PIREP?
From my point of view (both as pilot and instructor) it is simply not necessary in most cases. Why state the obvious? Here in central Europe we have a very dense network of weather reporting stations which provide mostly accurate and up-to-date reports and forecasts. The meteo providers do not rely on PIREPS at all in order to compile their data (don’t know how it is in the States?) and do not couunt them in. So here, a PIREP is really only issued when the observed weather is very different from the reported one which is seldom the case. For example, the last days we had very strong winds, in excess of 60kt on the ground in some places. With these conditions, one can expect all degrees of turbulence from sea level up to FL400. What would be the point of a PIREP then?
The bigger issue that apparently European pilots are not used to provide a report in the first place.
The problem is they have nobody make the report to – except ATC, and ATC has no system for noting such reports and stuffing them into some database from which others could retrieve it.
In the USA they have such a database, and then it all hangs together. Once you achieve a critical mass… which is the other issue: European GA traffic density, above the “1500ft” community, is very low and maybe 1/10 of what it is in the USA. You can fly 800nm across Europe at say FL100-190 and it is very unlikely you will see another GA aircraft. You might spot one of the “1500ft” people way down low, or of course airliners at ~FL300, but that’s about it. The low GA density is obvious from the lack of corresponding radio traffic too.
What some people do, myself included, is provide an “airfield pirep” when in proximity. For example if the ATIS says BKN at 2000ft and upon departure I find it BKN at 1500ft, I will tell them… etc. Very often it is useful for ATC to know if the cloudbase allows the visual circuit, and if it gets close it is good to tell them. Also if I climb up through a layer I might report the layer base, tops, min temps seen and whether there was any ice – all useful stuff for anybody departing after me, or coming in. But none of this stuff will ever go any further because there is no system for it.
Nor will Europe ever have such a system. Traffic density is too low, and mobile data stops working above about 2000ft (with some notable exceptions) so satphones are the only way, and they are pricey. The absolute cheapest is mentioned here i.e. a €300 Thuraya 7100 off Ebay and a PAYG SIM card. But that’s a clumsy system. The “nice” systems like the MLX770 will set you back 10k, plus a substantial monthly cost. There are some products below that level however…
The problem is they have nobody make the report to – except ATC, and ATC has no system for noting such reports and stuffing them into some database from which others could retrieve it.
If this was true, where would the PIREPs I posted come from? It can’t be DFS alone because only half of them were near German airspace. There must be a system, the very same system that what next’s office uses to get him his briefing pack. I would guess it’s actually the very same system that the FAA use. Isn’t PIREPs an ICAO thing?
I just checked it again and it carries one PIREP right now:
UAIY62 LIIB 091821 AIREP SPECIAL: MD80 REPORTED MOD TURB AT FL330 OVER AMTEL AT 1815=
AMTEL is near Siena in Italy. I don’t think you would report this to DFS but it somehow got into the DFS PIREP feed.
A few points:
1) in the US you deliver your formal PIREP not to ATC but to a FSS.
Exception is info that may be safety critical to another pilot. E. g. a few months ago I encountered severe windshear on departure from Flagstaff, with another a/c on a 1 mile final behind me. I sure as hell told the tower controller ( and of course the landing pilot who was on frequency)
2) you don’t normally state the obvious, but rather localized phenomena such as turbulence, haze due to fire, etc. Exception here being over sparsely populated areas, where the met guys really appreciate the info.
3) you receive this info normally during your briefing and sometimes through ATC if the controller seems it important.
4) you learn about this during your PPL and ever briefer ends his info with ‘PIREPS are appreciated’
I think it’s a great system as it gives you real flight info. I make PIREPS whenever there is something to report and do the same in Europe, here to whoever I’m talking to.
Now I’m curious. Lets say I’m on an IFR flight in Germany. I want to report the tops after climbing through an overcast layer. Do I call FIS, e.g. Langen Information, on the second radio while monitoring Langen RADAR on the first radio?
Why would you want to do that with FIS? Give it straight to Radar. FSS in the US is something completely different than FIS in Europe.
The thing is: controllers don’t do much with unsolicited top reports. When a pilot asks for the tops, the controller will usually ask for a “fresh” top report from some other traffic in the same area.
That said, I still did put in a couple of top reports today (tops at 130/140) when from LFSN to EDHL. Other pilots who are listening on the frequency might appreciate these…
Are there any plans to bring Pireps to the EU and make a datacenter to gather this information?
Not heard of anything generally accessible.
The subject pops up periodically, with people wishing it existed, but it would take a lot of changes to set up, and the “system” in Europe is run for airlines, not for GA. To get something like the US version, ATC would need to be on board and that will never happen in Europe.
For airports, we have the EuroGA airports database 
but of course people have to actively contribute.
Actually I think you might find it is a legal requirement to file a PIREP under EASA if you encounter certain weather phenomena, CB, TCU, dust storm, icing, wind shear, or volcanic ash. There may be other phenomena on the list , I am doing this from memory. IIRC you usually report to the ATS you are talking to and they should pass it on to other pilots.
There is a PIREP form I remember filling out during IR training. I can’t remember much about it now.
The USA does have the advantage of receiving in flight information, digitally, whereas in Europe there is much less of this in tje GA world and therefore an App might not be as useful here..
