PLT071: Surface Analysis Charts
What code PLT071 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study Surface Analysis Charts before your checkride.
Interpret information on a Surface Analysis Chart
What this means for your checkride
The surface analysis chart shows the current surface weather picture: high and low pressure centers, fronts, isobars, and station models with wind, temperature, dewpoint, and pressure. It gives the big-picture pattern behind the weather along a route.
Reading the synoptic pattern underpins weather judgment, so the FAA tests identifying pressure systems, fronts, and wind from the chart.
Pilots skip the station-model detail. Each station plot encodes wind, sky cover, temperature, dewpoint, and pressure, which together explain the local conditions the chart summarizes.
Where to study it
A code on your test report is an area of deficiency. An authorized instructor must review it with you and endorse that review before you take the practical test, and the examiner may revisit it during the oral. Study it until you can explain it out loud, not just recognize the answer.