In the inaugural episode of AIN's The Human Factor, we explore the circumstances that led to Tim Valentine flying his Cirrus SR22 into a thunderstorm. On May 16th, 2013 Tim departed from Addison, Texas, en route to Independence, Kansas, confident that most storms in the area had passed to the east after his departure was delayed by more than an hour. But when Tim took off under overcast conditions, at 1,000 feet his IFR routing took him directly into the back end of the thunderstorms that he was trying to avoid.

This episode explores the decisions leading up to this incident. We will hear from:

• Tim Valentine—pilot of the SR22
• John Dorsey—former executive director of SAFE (The Society of Aviation and Flight Educators)
• John Kosak—program manager, Weather at NBAA (National Business Aviation Association)

Topics in this episode will cover:

• Preflight weather planning
• PIREPs (pilot reports)
• En-route weather versus ATC-viewable weather
• Precipitation static or P-static
• Instrument failures

Stay tuned for Part II of this episode to be released on August 14th.