What are the weather colour codes used by RAF pilots?
As a former RAF pilot, I was asked the following question from a private jet pilot, who doesn’t have a military background.
He said: “I fly a Falcon 2000 and wWhen I land at RAF Northolt, the ATIS (radio weather broadcast) uses a colour code to describe the weather. Can you explain what this colour code is please, it has mystified me and many of my fellow civilian trained pilots for years!”
The RAF Air Traffic Controller’s take the runway viability and the height of the lowest clouds above the airfield. Using the table above, they match viability and cloudbase and broadcast the appropriate colour as an indicator of the weather.
RAF pilots are trained to instantly know what each colour implies. Blue is a fantastic day for flying and red is a day for drinking beer in the mess!
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