The primary purpose of visual aids is to enhance understanding. Visual aids, as used in environmental briefings, are pictorial and graphical representations portraying the informa-tion on which you are briefing. Just as the oral portion of a briefing must be heard, the visual aids must be seen. The size of the pictorial representation depends upon the farthest distance a person receiving the briefing is seated. For an individual pilot briefing, drawn charts or facsimile charts are normally adequate. For command, operations, or staff briefings, a number of other aids may be employed.

Transparent Projection 

Transparent projection in the form of transparencies or slides is one of the primary visual aids used in briefings. Transparencies are easily constructed using clear plastic and card-board borders. Grease pencils and certain types of magic markers are used to mark on the plastic. The transparencies can be reused by simply wiping the plastic clean with a soft cloth or paper towel and acetone. Transparencies are projected onto a screen using an overhead projector.

Another type of visual aid is that of opaque projection. Opaque projection uses a device known as the opaque projector. A mirror and lens arrangement in the projector permits the projec-tion of opaque materials such as charts and graphs.

Opaque projection requires a fully darkened room in order to show details and coloring satisfactorily.

You should have a basic familiarity with ordinary projection devices such as the transparent projector, opaque projector, and slide projectors.

The information displayed on briefing charts varies with the type of mission. The following information is a basic guide, bearing in mind that each situation must be resolved in terms of the information desired, the materials available, and the limitations of the briefing.

The following information should be used as a guide in preparing briefing charts:

1. Boundaries between land and water areas may be shaded lightly in blue on the water side and in brown on the land side. Entire land and water areas may be shaded if desired.

2. All printing should be in black. The date and time are indicated in the lower margin and should be in the same time zone as used in the briefing.

3. Indicate planned routes using solid brown lines with arrowheads. For convenience and clarity, the route may be divided into zones. When zones are used, each zone should be numbered.

4. Show pressure systems and fronts using conventional symbols. Projected movements may also be shown.

5. Draw a sufficient number of isobars to show relative intensity and distribution of pressure systems.

6. Delineate areas of fog, dust, haze, smoke, and similar restrictions to visibility. Shade these areas in red. Yellow or brown are the colors normally used to shade in such areas, but yellow is hard to see at a distance and brown is used to denote land-sea separation.

7. Indicate cold and warm air advection with blue and red arrows, respectively.

8. Shade in or stipple important cloud areas. Amounts, cloud types, and the heights of bases and tops above MSL may be printed in pertinent areas.

9. Indicate the location of precipitation and weather hazards (thunderstorms, turbulence, and icing) using the appropriate shading and symbology.

The following are some dos and donts on briefing from charts:

1. Use a pointer; however, refrain from imitating Zorro. Too much pointer movement is very distracting. One method of assuring this is to place your pointer firmly on the chart in the area you are about to discuss. Only move the pointer when you are going to discuss another area.

2. Stand off to the side of the chart so that you do not block anyones view.

3. Do not reach across your body with the pointer. Face your audience and point using the hand closest to the chart.

4. Do not talk to (brief) the chart; maintain eye contact with your audience.

Environmental briefings are important from many points of view. They are where you sell your product and yourself. A good briefer is positive and forceful and has the ability to convey current and forecast environmental conditions in a concise, easy-to-understand manner. Do not hedge in your briefing; state the conditions exactly as you see them. Operational commanders count on Aerographers Mates to provide them with the most up-to-date environmental informa-tion to assist them in their decision-making. No matter how good the information is that you are putting out, if your briefing carries with it a note of hesitancy or unsureness, it will fail to get the attention it deserves. One way to maintain attention at briefings is through the use of visual aids. Transparencies, slides, opaque projections, and enhanced weather charts all enhance briefings.

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