1 00:00:01,199 --> 00:00:04,160 Good morning, Northern Michigan. This is Mike, and 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:06,399 this is Cup of Traverse City for the 3 00:00:06,399 --> 00:00:09,059 12/24/2025, 4 00:00:09,199 --> 00:00:11,539 and Merry Christmas Eve. 5 00:00:11,919 --> 00:00:14,980 And since I'm taking tomorrow off, Merry Christmas 6 00:00:15,119 --> 00:00:15,859 as well. 7 00:00:16,535 --> 00:00:19,175 And today, I wanna go, into the weather 8 00:00:19,175 --> 00:00:22,774 first here. So, today, cloudy, high near 37, 9 00:00:22,774 --> 00:00:25,815 northwest wind around five, becoming south in the 10 00:00:25,815 --> 00:00:26,315 afternoon. 11 00:00:27,494 --> 00:00:30,614 Tonight, mostly cloudy with a low around 29. 12 00:00:30,614 --> 00:00:31,515 South wind, 13 00:00:32,030 --> 00:00:35,170 five miles per hour becoming north after midnight. 14 00:00:36,190 --> 00:00:38,690 And tomorrow, Christmas day, 15 00:00:39,229 --> 00:00:42,530 mostly cloudy with a steady temperature around 32. 16 00:00:42,990 --> 00:00:45,789 North wind around 10 becoming east in the 17 00:00:45,789 --> 00:00:46,289 afternoon. 18 00:00:47,704 --> 00:00:50,664 Tomorrow night, chance of snow showers after 1AM, 19 00:00:50,664 --> 00:00:53,565 mixing with freezing rain after 4AM. 20 00:00:53,784 --> 00:00:54,284 Yeesh. 21 00:00:55,145 --> 00:00:57,704 And cloudy with a low around 23. 22 00:00:57,704 --> 00:00:58,765 Southwest winds, 23 00:00:59,225 --> 00:01:01,005 five to 10 miles an hour, 24 00:01:01,310 --> 00:01:03,329 and gusts as high as 25. 25 00:01:03,549 --> 00:01:04,049 Precipitation 26 00:01:04,909 --> 00:01:06,930 percentage, about 40%. 27 00:01:07,150 --> 00:01:09,409 Friday, snow showers, freezing rain, 28 00:01:09,790 --> 00:01:11,409 mostly before 1AM. 29 00:01:12,109 --> 00:01:13,489 Yeah. That's gonna be fun. 30 00:01:13,950 --> 00:01:14,450 Anyway, 31 00:01:15,885 --> 00:01:17,724 so, yeah, I figured I'd cover the weather 32 00:01:17,724 --> 00:01:19,484 for the next couple of days. Actually, I'm 33 00:01:19,484 --> 00:01:19,965 taking, 34 00:01:20,444 --> 00:01:23,564 Thursday, Friday, and the weekend off, so, 35 00:01:23,965 --> 00:01:24,465 I'll 36 00:01:24,844 --> 00:01:26,225 return on Monday. 37 00:01:27,084 --> 00:01:29,165 But, today, I wanted to do some, 38 00:01:29,484 --> 00:01:29,984 aviation 39 00:01:30,379 --> 00:01:32,479 humor around this time of year. 40 00:01:32,939 --> 00:01:33,500 I know. 41 00:01:33,979 --> 00:01:36,239 It's it's it's my own thing, but 42 00:01:37,979 --> 00:01:38,719 the FAA 43 00:01:39,099 --> 00:01:42,879 or, actually, more accurately, ForeFlight, which is a 44 00:01:43,099 --> 00:01:44,799 a tool that pilots use 45 00:01:45,734 --> 00:01:48,534 to check weather, do flight planning, all that 46 00:01:48,534 --> 00:01:49,034 stuff. 47 00:01:50,295 --> 00:01:53,914 Insert some pretty funny things into the terminal 48 00:01:53,974 --> 00:01:55,034 area forecast 49 00:01:55,414 --> 00:01:56,155 or the 50 00:01:56,694 --> 00:01:57,194 METAR, 51 00:01:57,734 --> 00:01:58,875 which is the, 52 00:02:00,069 --> 00:02:01,909 now I can't remember what the what the 53 00:02:01,909 --> 00:02:04,150 acronym is, but it's, you know, basically the 54 00:02:04,150 --> 00:02:06,329 weather for the next hour at a particular 55 00:02:06,390 --> 00:02:08,169 airport or reporting station. 56 00:02:09,189 --> 00:02:09,430 And, 57 00:02:10,069 --> 00:02:11,770 I was just looking at, today's, 58 00:02:13,030 --> 00:02:13,530 current 59 00:02:15,905 --> 00:02:16,405 METAR. 60 00:02:16,784 --> 00:02:19,284 And, basically, it's marginal VFR, 61 00:02:19,985 --> 00:02:22,084 winds three sixty at eight knots 62 00:02:22,705 --> 00:02:23,205 and 63 00:02:23,985 --> 00:02:25,844 six miles plus visibility, 64 00:02:27,025 --> 00:02:29,044 overcast at 2,500 65 00:02:29,104 --> 00:02:29,604 feet. 66 00:02:30,330 --> 00:02:30,830 And, 67 00:02:32,090 --> 00:02:34,569 the the there's a warning on here. Red 68 00:02:34,569 --> 00:02:36,349 reindeer nose use prohibited 69 00:02:36,650 --> 00:02:38,030 on all taxiways, 70 00:02:38,569 --> 00:02:41,150 and that's for that's for Traverse City 71 00:02:41,530 --> 00:02:44,110 right now. But there's a lot of them 72 00:02:44,735 --> 00:02:47,314 that, I've seen over the last 73 00:02:47,854 --> 00:02:50,194 little bit, you know, looking around different airports. 74 00:02:50,655 --> 00:02:53,775 One is Santa activity in vicinity of the 75 00:02:53,775 --> 00:02:54,275 airport, 76 00:02:55,534 --> 00:02:56,594 festive weather. 77 00:02:57,590 --> 00:03:00,409 Let's see. Possible smoke, chestnuts roasting. 78 00:03:02,709 --> 00:03:04,009 There's a couple others. 79 00:03:05,509 --> 00:03:07,530 Let's see. Caution, Grinch activity 80 00:03:08,229 --> 00:03:10,569 in the vicinity of the airport in 81 00:03:11,415 --> 00:03:13,194 magic rain door reindeer 82 00:03:13,495 --> 00:03:13,995 dust 83 00:03:14,455 --> 00:03:15,915 in the vicinity of the airport. 84 00:03:17,014 --> 00:03:19,435 Cole in vicinity of Noddy. 85 00:03:21,415 --> 00:03:24,135 So, you know, they have a pretty pretty 86 00:03:24,135 --> 00:03:24,534 good, 87 00:03:26,050 --> 00:03:29,490 sense of humor and, you know, festive little 88 00:03:29,490 --> 00:03:29,990 messages, 89 00:03:31,650 --> 00:03:32,389 on the, 90 00:03:32,849 --> 00:03:35,909 on the terminal area forecast and the METARs 91 00:03:36,050 --> 00:03:38,230 and, you know, I guess that's a 92 00:03:38,770 --> 00:03:39,669 joke. Now 93 00:03:40,215 --> 00:03:41,354 one more, thing. 94 00:03:43,414 --> 00:03:45,655 Most pilots have to do what's called a 95 00:03:45,655 --> 00:03:46,155 biannual 96 00:03:46,615 --> 00:03:47,435 flight review, 97 00:03:47,895 --> 00:03:49,495 and you don't have to do it with 98 00:03:49,495 --> 00:03:51,414 an FAA inspector. You have to do it 99 00:03:51,414 --> 00:03:52,555 with a an instructor. 100 00:03:53,655 --> 00:03:54,155 But, 101 00:03:54,919 --> 00:03:55,739 you know, they call 102 00:03:56,199 --> 00:03:58,139 it a mini checkride, I guess. 103 00:03:58,519 --> 00:04:00,919 Checkride is where you're going for another license, 104 00:04:00,919 --> 00:04:02,280 like, you know, if you're going for your 105 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:03,800 private pilot's license, you have to take a 106 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:05,340 checkride with a FAA 107 00:04:05,719 --> 00:04:07,500 authorized examiner and 108 00:04:07,844 --> 00:04:09,764 blah blah blah blah. It's called a, you 109 00:04:09,764 --> 00:04:11,224 know, a practical test, 110 00:04:11,844 --> 00:04:13,444 but called a check ride. So we just 111 00:04:13,444 --> 00:04:15,305 sort of call these check rides. So 112 00:04:15,764 --> 00:04:16,564 here here's one. 113 00:04:17,125 --> 00:04:19,865 Santa was up for his check ride, 114 00:04:21,170 --> 00:04:24,209 and the FAA examiner arrives to perform Santa's 115 00:04:24,209 --> 00:04:25,509 annual flight review. 116 00:04:26,050 --> 00:04:28,610 It should be biannual, but, and it doesn't 117 00:04:28,610 --> 00:04:30,290 have to be FAA. But, hey, this is 118 00:04:30,290 --> 00:04:30,870 a joke. 119 00:04:31,649 --> 00:04:34,069 And after checking the sleigh and the reindeer's 120 00:04:34,415 --> 00:04:37,615 weight and balance, the examiner claims in the 121 00:04:37,615 --> 00:04:38,915 sleigh with a shotgun. 122 00:04:39,855 --> 00:04:42,254 And, Santa looks at her, so why why 123 00:04:42,254 --> 00:04:43,935 is the, you know, why do you have 124 00:04:43,935 --> 00:04:45,375 a shotgun? He says, well, I'm not supposed 125 00:04:45,375 --> 00:04:46,814 to tell you this, but you're gonna lose 126 00:04:46,814 --> 00:04:48,035 an engine on takeoff. 127 00:04:50,439 --> 00:04:52,220 I thought that was pretty funny. 128 00:04:52,919 --> 00:04:53,319 And, 129 00:04:54,439 --> 00:04:56,220 also, the the FAA 130 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:57,000 will, 131 00:04:58,199 --> 00:04:58,860 put up 132 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,740 ADS B data for Santa's sleigh. 133 00:05:04,144 --> 00:05:06,625 So if you're using a flight tracker like 134 00:05:06,625 --> 00:05:08,245 flight radar 24, 135 00:05:08,305 --> 00:05:09,524 ADSB exchange, 136 00:05:10,944 --> 00:05:12,705 there'll be an entry in there where you 137 00:05:12,705 --> 00:05:14,805 can follow Santa's sleigh. 138 00:05:15,504 --> 00:05:16,004 So 139 00:05:16,649 --> 00:05:18,970 like I said, the FAA and, 140 00:05:19,449 --> 00:05:21,449 you know, ForeFlight and some of the other 141 00:05:21,449 --> 00:05:23,870 apps do a lot of fun stuff around, 142 00:05:24,970 --> 00:05:25,870 you know, around 143 00:05:27,290 --> 00:05:29,689 Christmas. I don't think they do it around 144 00:05:29,689 --> 00:05:31,470 other holidays. I know, 145 00:05:32,024 --> 00:05:32,524 locally 146 00:05:33,144 --> 00:05:35,944 here, when they have fireworks going on, they'll 147 00:05:35,944 --> 00:05:37,404 put a little note in the METAR 148 00:05:37,785 --> 00:05:40,185 or the ATIS. ATIS is, you know, where 149 00:05:40,185 --> 00:05:40,685 pilots 150 00:05:41,064 --> 00:05:43,245 listen to the hourly weather on 151 00:05:43,545 --> 00:05:44,845 a, you know, a looped 152 00:05:45,310 --> 00:05:46,669 thing, you know, think of it like the, 153 00:05:46,990 --> 00:05:48,610 NWS weather channels, 154 00:05:49,069 --> 00:05:51,389 and the weather radio radio. Well, there's a 155 00:05:51,389 --> 00:05:53,490 similar thing for for pilots, 156 00:05:54,029 --> 00:05:54,769 comes from 157 00:05:55,229 --> 00:05:57,169 the local control tower or 158 00:05:57,709 --> 00:05:58,769 whatever, and 159 00:05:59,855 --> 00:06:02,415 sometimes they'll put something in there about, you 160 00:06:02,415 --> 00:06:03,634 know, hey, fireworks, 161 00:06:04,254 --> 00:06:06,194 four miles north northeast 162 00:06:07,134 --> 00:06:10,275 of the airport or whatever, something like that, 163 00:06:11,295 --> 00:06:13,295 around the fourth of July or whenever they 164 00:06:13,295 --> 00:06:15,529 have a fireworks show. I know around here, 165 00:06:15,529 --> 00:06:18,009 the Cherry Festival usually does one at the 166 00:06:18,009 --> 00:06:21,389 end as well. So but that normally coincides 167 00:06:21,529 --> 00:06:23,629 with fourth of July or pretty close. 168 00:06:24,810 --> 00:06:27,209 So, anyway, I guess we're going a little 169 00:06:27,209 --> 00:06:28,509 long. That's okay. 170 00:06:29,064 --> 00:06:30,204 I hope you enjoyed 171 00:06:30,904 --> 00:06:34,045 listening to a little bit of aviation humor, 172 00:06:34,824 --> 00:06:37,544 and I will catch you on Monday. Everybody 173 00:06:37,544 --> 00:06:39,084 have a merry Christmas, 174 00:06:39,464 --> 00:06:42,504 a happy holiday, whatever you, celebrate or don't. 175 00:06:42,745 --> 00:06:43,884 If if you don't, 176 00:06:44,317 --> 00:06:45,857 happy Thursday tomorrow. 177 00:06:46,397 --> 00:06:46,897 Anyway, 178 00:06:48,157 --> 00:06:48,797 catch you, 179 00:06:49,277 --> 00:06:50,017 on Monday.