Systems Guide

A318/A319/A320/A321
Professional
SYSTEMS
Systems guide
Vol
4
04-03-65
11 July 2018
Creating a mental image of the weather using the weather radar is a complex task where experience is
very important. Areas to avoid are large areas with heavy rain or smaller areas with tight color bands
meaning there is only a small area where the rain increases in density.
Keep in mind that strong fronts hide whatever is behind them. Use the manual tilt and gain to look below
the weather in front until ground clutter starts to appear. If the region directly behind the weather
remains dark and ground clutter appears on either side it indicates a possible radar shadow.
A quick way to test operation of the weather radar on a clear day is to tilt it down and increase gain with
Ground Clutter Suppression set to off. If you do not see ground returns the system is malfunctioning.