July 2021 EZNews

Hello and welcome to the 3rd edition of EZNews!

It's been great hearing your feedback since we released this progressive web app (PWA) on April 7th. We really appreciate all of those subscribers that have recently joined, renewed their membership or signed up for auto-renewal. As mentioned in the previous edition of EZNews, we are just getting started and know there's a lot more to accomplish with EZWxBrief. It is truly uplifting to know that it's a product you want to see flourish for years to come.

Have you considered 1-on-1 online training?

Want to learn more about weather? Do you have an upcoming flight and would like to review the weather for that proposed route with an expert? Well, you might benefit from an online training session with Dr. Scott Dennstaedt. With online training, our goal isn't to get you to your destination safely or improve the ability for you to attempt more flights, but teach you how to do that yourself using the EZWxBrief PWA. We also want to see you build confidence in your own preflight weather analysis. Keep in mind that while this is not meant to replace a formal weather briefing, you will typically leave the online session with guidance that will undoubtedly help you make a more informed go/stay decision. We offer sessions in 30-minute and 1-hour blocks. Please visit https://avwxtraining.com/book-online to book your slot (book early as time slots fill up quickly throughout the week). Sessions can be booked Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. eastern time. I encourage you to give it a try as you are planning for your next flight.

Set up EZWxBrief to start as a PWA

Please note that EZWxBrief has been optimized to run as a progressive web app (PWA) on all devices. You can still run this in a browser, but you will notice for smaller devices you may have to do a lot more scrolling to get full use of the application. For instructions on how to install EZWxBrief as a PWA, please download the EZWxBrief Pilots Guide. The Pilots Guide can be downloaded from the Quick Start menu. After signing in select the Start button and then select View the Pilots Guide from the menu. This will download a PDF containing the latest Pilots Guide. The instructions begin on Page 14. This will create an icon on your Desktop or Home Screen that you can use to launch EZWxBrief. There is no need to download new versions. If a new version of EZWxBrief is released, it will be available the next time you start the application.

Come visit EZWxBrief at AirVenture 2021

Similar to our presence at SUN 'n FUN, EZWxBrief will have a booth this year at EAA's AirVenture. You'll find us in Hangar C and we are looking forward to meeting many of you who will be attending. Stop by and say hello and get an EZWxBrief demonstration or attend one or more of Scott's eight presentations throughout the week (see below). So mark your calendars. Teaser: Come to the Friday, 12 pm presentation at the AOPA Pavilion to learn how you can receive a special gift (while supplies last, of course).

A week before AirVenture starts, keep an eye out for our daily EZWxChat Facebook live stream of the weather analysis for anyone planning to fly to the event (please note that you don't need to have a Facebook account to watch the live stream). The schedule for these episodes will be posted on the EZWxBrief Facebook page and sent out on Twitter (@ezwxbrief) for those interested in hearing this analysis. These sessions will be recorded and uploaded to our YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/avwxworkshops) at a later time (likely the following day).

What's new with EZWxBrief?

We are still working hard to make the application more responsive on smaller devices such as an iPhone. Meanwhile we released Version 1.0.3 to fix some bugs and add the ability to have the application remember your last choices on the EZRoute Profile and Meteogram. Now, when you launch the EZRoute Profile or Meteogram and make a change to the Max Alt (FL) setting, it will remember that choice. It will also remember the last choice you made for the route profile type (Wind, Clouds, Icing, Turb). This means that if you have the Clouds profile displayed when you last visit the EZRoute Profile, it will be the choice that will come up the next time you visit this page. Moreover, it will also remember your categorical choices for icing (Prob, Sev, SLD, Sev + SLD) and turbulence (CAT, MWT, Combined) on those targeted views.

A significant change has been made to the EZDeparture Advisor. You will no longer see a place marker on the time slider. This button was removed given that it was hard to "grab" on smaller portable devices such as an iPhone. Instead, you will need to press and drag the time label at the top of the EZDeparture Advisor. On portable devices with a touch screen (e.g. iPhone), once you press the time label you can slide your finger down to the bottom of the device so that your hand doesn't obscure the display. As long as you do not lift your finger you will be able to move the time forward and backward and have full visibility to the EZRoute Profile or EZMap screens.

We also have made significant progress on making the application faster when switching between the EZMap, EZRoute Profile, EZImagery and EZAirport pages. When you launch the EZMap or EZRoute Profile for the first time (including choosing a favorite route), refresh the route, update the route or make a change to specific EZSettings, the application may take 6 to 12 seconds (depending on server load and length of the route) to build the display you eventually see. The EZDeparture Advisor must construct it's display by reading tens of thousands of records to evaluate the weather within the EZWxBrief route corridor for over 60 possible departure times for a dozen personal minimum categories. But after that point, you can navigate between the EZMap and EZRoute Profile without waiting for it to refresh. Keep in mind, however, the data you see on the EZMap and EZRoute Profile has been cached and will remain unchanged unless triggered through a route change or has aged beyond 30 minutes where it will once again refresh the route. You an also refresh the display at any time by a click or tap on the refresh button on the EZRoute Profile and EZMap (or using Ctrl-R or Cmd-R to reload the page).

Follow us on social media and visit our blog to learn more about weather

Lastly, don't forget to follow us on Twitter (@ezwxbrief), Facebook (https://facebook.com/ezwxbrief), Instagram and YouTube (https://youtube.com/avwxworkshops) to get the latest information and training available for EZWxBrief. You can also learn more about EZWxBrief and read articles on various aviation weather topics in our blog at https://avwxtraining.com/blog. As always, enjoy the simplicity of EZWxBrief!

Most pilots are weatherwise, but some are otherwise™

Dr. Scott Dennstaedt

Weather Systems Engineer

Founder, EZWxBrief

CFI & former NWS meteorologist