Opinion ID: 1264810
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Weather Briefings

Text: Mr. Prokop received two weather briefings before he began his flight. He received his first briefing, from FSS Specialist Havelka, at 4:55 am. He called in again for an abbreviated briefing from FSS Specialist Hertzog at 5:41 a.m. The relevant portions of both of these briefings are reproduced in full in the district court's opinion, so we will only briefly recount the most important portions here. Specialist Havelka told Mr. Prokop there was an AIRMET for the area warning of the potential for some i f r. [2] (Aplt. Appx. at 557.) He conveyed the content of a recent METAR [3] for Grand Rapids, reporting visibility of three miles and ceilings of 1,300 feet. He further stated that the forecast for [the Grand Rapids airport]... through six or so ah occasional lower stratus and possible light snow[.][A]s the day goes on conditions are expected to become about five to six thousand scattered to broken. (Aplt. Appx. at 557.) He continued to give Mr. Prokop information about other lower stratus clouds around the nearby Aitkin and Brainerd airports, the forecast for the St. Cloud airport, where Mr. Prokop had planned to land, as well as some additional information. ( Id. ) Finally, he advised Mr. Prokop that it looks like ah you know if you waited a couple hours ceilings should lift some for ya. ( Id. ) Mr. Prokop received his second briefing, from FSS Specialist Hertzog, at 5:41 a.m. Early in the briefing, Mr. Prokop mentioned that he had already received a briefing that morning, after which Mr. Hertzog offered to give him an abbreviated briefing, and Mr. Prokop agreed that he only wanted an abbreviated briefing. Nonetheless, the briefing contained a lot of the information conveyed in the earlier full briefing. For example, Specialist Hertzog warned Mr. Prokop of the airmet for if r that Specialist Havelka had mentioned. (Aplt. Appx. at 587.) However, he indicated that although there were some reports of marginal conditions at Grand Rapids and low visibility at the Aitkin airport, there were no reports of actual IFR conditions along Mr. Prokop's route at that time. ( Id. ) Finally, he informed Mr. Prokop that there were no relevant pilot reports, and updated him on the current conditions at the airports near his route.