Pilot's Weather

By Brian Cosgrove

One of the most comprehendible weather books on the market, ‘Pilot’s Weather’ breaks down subjects that many others present as complex and confusing and delivers them to the reader in an easy to digest manner. The cover strap line that reads ‘a commonsense approach to meteorology’ is a highly accurate description and Brian Cosgrove’s hardback book explains all of the fundamental aspects of meteorology that every one of us, from farmer to free flyer, needs to know.

There are chapters covering all the meteo essentials from fronts and clouds, through to lapse rates and pressure systems. If you want a clear understanding of how the sky works, on to which you can start adding the really complex issues that books like Dennis Pagen’s ‘Understanding the Sky’ will introduce, then this is a must have book.

Pilot's Weather
$39.95

I’ve got a whole shelf of weather books at my house. Unfortunately, if you leafed through any of them you would soon notice that they are all well-thumbed until about chapter two. This is the point at which I decided that I had to go and do something more interesting, like hoovering the carpets or watching some paint dry. Alternatively, I might have stopped because my head had turned to mush, bombarded by complex adiabatic lapse rate equations. Simple soul that I am it seems to me that technical weather books are often either dull as dish water or hugely overcomplicated. Fortunately, pilot’s weather is neither of these; it is not by accident that the book’s sub-title is ‘a common approach to meteorology’.

This hardbacked offering by experienced pilot Brian Cosgrove, utilises succinct pieces of information, excellent graphics and fantastic photographs to get his message across. Moreover, the author goes out of his way to devise simple analogies to help you visualise and then remember difficult concepts.

Subjects are covered in a clear, concise and simple manner, even the complicated ones. There is also a system of ‘side-boxes’ that contain additional or more complicated information, which you can choose to ignore if your brain feels like it’s about to explode.

Chapters are split into particular important points such as fronts, wind, clouds and so on. Each topic is dealt with clearly and thoroughly. Weather reports and forecasts are also covered meticulously and a general data section lists all those annoying little numbers in one place.

There is also an excellent ‘recap’ section at the back where bullet points are set out for all the main facts of each chapter.

Although the book includes some powered flight topics it remains relevant for those who prefer to do it ‘sans engine’. Furthermore, I found that this information actually helped impart good background knowledge.

The only negative point I would say is the less-than-exciting front cover, which doesn’t do justice to the more interesting content contained within.

I had several ‘eureka’ moments with this book where half-understood and hazy notions finally became clear in my mind. In particular I loved the simple descriptions and excellent illustrative photos in the clouds chapter and likewise the explanations and diagrams in the section on fronts.

So, if you’re like me and you need your knowledge imparting in small bite-sized chunks and delivered in an easy-to-follow manner, then this book could well be worth a look.