A pilot report or PIREP is a report of actual flight or ground conditions encountered by an aircraft. Reports commonly include information about atmospheric conditions (like temperature, icing, turbulence) or airport conditions (like runway condition codes or ground equipment failures). This information is usually relayed by radio to the nearest ground station, but other options (e.g. electronic submission) also exist in some regions. The message would then be encoded and relayed to other weather offices and air traffic service units.

Although the actual form used to record the PIREP may differ from one country to another, the standards and criteria will remain almost the same. At a minimum the PIREP must contain a header, aircraft location, time, flight level, aircraft type and one other field.

In recent years, a PIREP will also include UA or UUA used to identify the PIREP as routine or urgent.

Included data

Mandatory

  • UA or UUA used to identify the PIREP as routine or urgent (In Canada this is indicated by the prefix to the PIREP: "UACN01" for an urgent PIREP or "UACN10" for a normal PIREP)
  • /OV location of the PIREP, in relation to a NAVAID, an aerodrome or geographical coordinates
  • /TM time the PIREP was received from the pilot (UTC)
  • /FL flight level or altitude above sea level at the time the PIREP is filed; it is essential for turbulence and icing reports
  • /TP aircraft type; it is essential for turbulence and icing reports

Optional (at least one is required)

  • /SK sky cover
  • /TA ambient temperature; important for icing reports
  • /WV wind vector referenced in terms of true north (ICAO), or magnetic north (in the United States)
  • /TB turbulence; intensity, whether it occurred in or near clouds, and duration
  • /IC icing
  • /RM remarks
  • /WX flight visibility and weather

AIREP

Like PIREPs, Aircraft Reports (AIREP) are reports of actual weather conditions of an aircraft in flight. AIREPs are often automated reports generated by sensors onboard the aircraft, contrary to PIREPs, though they can also be reported by pilots. Likewise, a different encoding is used for either type.

Body

The message identifier "UA" is used when the PIREP contains non-hazardous weather information. If the PIREP contains a report of a tornado, funnel cloud, waterspout, severe turbulence, severe icing, hail, volcanic ash clouds, a low-level wind shear hazard, or any other weather deemed hazardous by the receiving agency, the identifier "UUA" would be used. Cloud cover ranges can be entered with a hyphen, e.g., <code>BKN-OVC</code>.

  • Ceilings at or below
  • Visibility at or less than
  • Thunderstorms and related phenomena
  • Turbulence of moderate degree or greater
  • Icing of light degree or greater
  • Wind shear
  • Volcanic ash clouds

At least once hourly, terminal controllers must obtain a descent/climb-out PIREP, including cloud information and other related phenomena.

See also

  • AMDAR – aircraft meteorological data relay, a WMO FM-42 code for an automatic meteorological report from an aircraft
  • ACARS – ARINC Communications Addressing and Reporting System
  • SIGMET
  • AIRMET
  • Aeronautical Information Manual

References

  • FAA Pilot Weather Report