"Weather is a factor in many fatal aviation accidents," this according to seminar author and presenter, Scott Dennstaedt. "The goal is to help pilots recognize the location of adverse weather prior to flight and develop a plan and route to avoid it while in flight. This planning must start days in advance and not just hours before the flight."

Pilots need to balance their desire to fly with their need to minimize exposure to hazardous weather such as icing, thunderstorms and fog. Mr. Dennstaedt designed the "Weather or Not" seminar for that very purpose providing guidance on how to use various web-based tools to accomplish this task.

Mr. Scott Dennstaedt will present the two-day seminar. Mr. Dennstaedt is an experienced FAA-certified instrument flight instructor (CFII) and meteorologist based in the Baltimore-Washington area. Besides presenting weather seminars, he is a contributing editor and writer for IFR Magazine and is a columnist for Aero-News.Net.

The weekend-long seminar dissects two familiar weather products and introduces several weather products that are extremely useful, but may not be familiar to most pilots. The featured segments teach pilots how to understand and make practical use of:

• NEXRAD images
• Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs)
• Tools to assess atmospheric instability to include thermodynamic diagrams.
• Weather forecasting models for short- and long-range planning.

The "Weather or Not" seminar is accepted as an industry-conducted recurrent training seminar under the FAA's Pilot Proficiency Awards Program (also known as the Wings Program). In addition to the topics above, there will be plenty of time available for an interactive discussion about all facets of weather planning.

Chesapeake Aviation Training is holding the "Weather or Not" seminar at the following Detroit location:

• May 15 – May 16, 2004, at Detroit, Michigan (KONZ) – Grosse Ile Municipal Airport

The price of the two-day seminar is $350. An early registration discount price of $300 is available until April 30, 2004. Student pilots holding a valid student pilot’s certificate as well as FAA-certified flight instructors can receive a discounted price of $250. The price above includes a light lunch on Saturday and Sunday and a CD containing the presentation slides.

Chesapeake Aviation Training is committed to providing the most comprehensive one-on-one flight training as well as the most comprehensive and unique ground training the aviation industry has to offer. Founded in 2001, Chesapeake Aviation Training, Inc. is a privately held firm headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. You can contact Chesapeake Aviation Training by phone at 1-410-379-5731 or by e-mail at contact@chesavtraining.com. You can also visit their web site at http://chesavtraining.com for more information on their upcoming seminars and flight training options.