Dennis Pagen's Understanding the Sky is the world's best-selling meteorology book for sport aviation pilots. The author has nearly fifty years of flying experience and has served in several roles at CIVL and the FAI, the world air sports federation. Its strength lies in micrometeorology — the local, small-scale effects a paraglider pilot meets every day, and the part most general weather books skip over. The Vietnamese edition was translated by pilot Dang Van My. Paperback, black and white, 274 pages. Available only from Mebayluon Paragliding.
☁️ Read first: cloud types for pilots
📚 The book covers twelve chapters
- The structure and properties of air, atmospheric pressure
- The big picture: general meteorology, warm and cold fronts
- High and low pressure systems and circulation patterns
- What causes wind and how it behaves, winds aloft, low-level jets
- Turbulence: rotors, vortex turbulence, turbulence cycles, wind shadow
- Local effects: sea and land breezes, heat fronts, coastal and island effects
- Soaring conditions: ridge lift, ridge soaring, canyons and gaps
- Mountain waves: properties, wave clouds, dangers and how to fly them
- Convergence and frontal lift, and how to read lift indicators
- Instability and thermals: sources, cycles, dust devils, thermal sink
- Clouds: types, cloud streets, cloud base height, inversions
- Thunderstorms and how to judge them, forecasting flying conditions
