How to give a PIREP (pilot report)
A PIREP is how the weather you are flying through reaches the next pilot. Giving one is simple, genuinely useful, and something controllers and Flight Service actively want.
What a PIREP is
A pilot report of actual conditions aloft — cloud tops and bases, turbulence, icing, in-flight visibility, wind. Forecasts are predictions; a PIREP is ground truth from someone who is up there now.
When to give one
Anytime conditions differ from the forecast, or when you hit turbulence, icing, or a cloud layer worth reporting. Unexpectedly smooth air and clear tops are worth reporting too — good news helps the next pilot plan.
Who to give it to
Flight Service on a published frequency or 122.2, or the ATC controller you are already talking to. Open with “[facility], Cessna One Two Three Four Five, PIREP” so they can get ready to copy.
The format
Location, time, altitude, aircraft type, then the conditions: “over the Hilo VOR, one five past the hour, six thousand five hundred, Cessna 172, tops of the layer at six thousand, light chop.” The order is standard, but they will take whatever you can give.
Use the standard intensities
For turbulence: light, moderate, severe, extreme. For icing: trace, light, moderate, severe. Those words mean specific things to the next pilot, so use them rather than your own description.
Why it matters
The next pilot and the forecaster both use your report. It is one of the few ways general aviation gives back to the system it relies on.
Drill the call
Practice the structured report so it comes out in order under a little workload. Free on Clearspar, no mic required.
Practice these calls with instant grading — free.
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