Aviation Weather Briefing: How To Get A WX Brief

1800wxbrief.com is the website of Leidos Flight Service, the FAA contractor that provides flight service in the continental US, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Pilots use it to get standard, abbreviated and outlook briefings, file flight plans and receive alerts for NOTAMs, TFRs and severe weather. It is free; the Leidos FAQ says it is a federally funded public service and does not accept payment. Online briefings are kept for 45 days, and you can reach a briefer by phone at 1-800-WX-BRIEF.

1-800-WX-BRIEF, which dials as 1-800-992-7433, according to AIM 7-1-2 and the Leidos Flight Service FAQ. It connects you to a Flight Service specialist anywhere in the continental US, Hawaii and US territories. In Alaska the AIM lists 1-833-AK-BRIEF instead. Before you call, the AIM encourages a self-brief online so you can ask for an abbreviated briefing on the items you still need, which shortens the call.

WX is the standard aviation abbreviation for weather, so a WX brief is a weather briefing: the official picture of weather, NOTAMs and delays for a planned flight. Pilots use it for both the phone briefing from Flight Service and an online self-brief on 1800wxbrief.com. In conversation, “get a wx brief” usually means a standard briefing, the full version described in AIM 7-1-5 for a flight you have not yet been briefed on.

AIM 7-1-5 lists the elements in order: adverse conditions, a VFR-flight-not-recommended statement when the briefer judges VFR doubtful, a synopsis, current conditions, the en route forecast, the destination forecast, winds aloft, NOTAMs and ATC delays. Current conditions are omitted if departure is more than two hours away unless you ask. Other items, such as density altitude and special use airspace details, are given only on request, so ask for them when they matter.

When your departure is six or more hours away, according to AIM 7-1-5. An outlook briefing is for planning: deciding whether the trip looks possible tomorrow morning or which day of a weekend is better. It is not enough on its own to depart on. Before the flight, get a standard briefing, or an abbreviated one to update what you already have, for adverse conditions, current weather, updated forecasts, winds aloft and NOTAMs.

14 CFR 91.103 requires every pilot in command to become familiar with all available information concerning the flight before beginning it. For IFR flights and flights not in the vicinity of an airport, that must include weather reports and forecasts, fuel requirements, alternatives and known ATC delays. The rule does not name Flight Service, so a thorough self-brief can satisfy it, but you must be able to show you checked what was available.

Neither is better in every case. Online, you read the same METARs, TAFs and graphics a briefer uses, at your own pace, and Leidos keeps the briefing on file. On the phone, a specialist interprets the picture and answers questions, which helps on a marginal day or an unfamiliar route. The AIM encourages pilots who call to self-brief first. Many of our students do both before a cross-country: online first, then a short call.

It mostly delays morning lessons from May through summer. The NWS describes the marine layer as cool, moist air under an inversion that forms stratus at night and clears through the morning. In our year of hourly Van Nuys observations, 40% of June 07:00 reports met a 3,000-foot ceiling and 5-mile visibility, rising to 93% by 11:00. A briefing that shows a low broken or overcast layer early usually means waiting a few hours, not canceling.