It is quite obvious that aviation plays a major role in today's society. Aviation services have become vital to the nation's economy, national security, and to the safety of life and property. In particular, aviation weather services prove useful because they are used to support our national defense and humanitarian missions, transportation of people and commerce, hurricane reconnaissance, and emergency medical helicopter missions. Basically every flight ranging from the newest student pilot to shuttle missions require some sort of weather-related screening for safety precautions before flight.
The aviation weather community constantly focuses on improving data gathering and prediction products and services in order to reduce the rate of fatal aviation accidents. There are grand improvements in getting information to the user in a timely and mission tailored manner. Also of importance are improving provider and user training, and implementing sound weather decision making processes. According to a speech delivered by Samuel Williamson, Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research, “A new system designed to improve the flow of air traffic during severe weather helped reduce delays by seven percent last month” (Williamson, 2000). Current technologies include: implementation of Flight Information Service (FIS) capabilities between the ground and cockpit; development and implementation of multifunctional color cockpit displays incorporating FIS products; expansion and institutionalization of the generation, dissemination, and use of automated pilot reports (PIREPs), including type of observation, to the full spectrum of the aviation community, including general aviation; improvement on weather forecasting services across all service areas; development and implementation of aviation weather-related training packages for Air Traffic Control service providers, pilots, and other users; improvement on aviation weather telecommunications capabilities for ground-to-ground dissemination of aviation weather products, including bulk weather data distribution; and finally improvement on objective standards for characterizing various weather activities for national and international use.
Goals and Collaborative Efforts
There are constantly major collaborative efforts in projects to update these technologies. Participating organizations include: The Federal Aviation Industry (FAA), The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States Department of Defense (DOD), and other industry, university, and association partners. The long and steady improvements in aviation safety experienced in the mid 80's and early 90's had plateaued out. Only through such collaborations are efficient and residual improvements possible.
This mesh of government and industry resulted in a four tiered planning process.
Tier one began in late 1996, and is based around the sentiment that weather, in and of itself, does not cause accidents. It concentrated on creating better weather reporting and forecast to assist pilots, dispatchers, and controllers to make better and timelier weather decisions. Also included is to design and manufacture better aircraft. The result of that effort was the publication in 1997 of the National Aviation Weather Program Strategic Plan. Tier two was a matter of getting the details. It concentrated on developing specific things that needed to be done in several areas and then to prioritize them according to their contribution either to safety or efficiency. The priority setting was very heavily weighted on the side of the air carrier operations. The result of tier two was the publication, in early 1999, of the National Aviation Weather Initiative. Tier three and four are proceeding concurrently and occupy the present moment. The focus of tier three is to identify who's doing what, from the tier two activities, and then to find holes that need to be worked on. Some of the projects require long-term infrastructure, development, and capital investment planning. Others are non-material solutions such as procedures or scientific research. Tier four consists of budgets and schedules. This includes actually securing the financial resources, allocating the personnel and fiscal resources, and establishing and tracking schedules.
In February 1997, the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security recommended a national goal for government and industry of reducing the rate of fatal aviation accidents by a factor of five per 100,000 flight hours, equivalent to an 80% reduction, within 10 years (OFCM, Ops. For Implementation p.2-1). Safety research and technology improvements were recognized as essential elements in achieving this goal. Both the FAA and NASA adopted this proposal in their strategic plans. The 1999 report by the Joint Action Group for Aviation Weather, National Aviation Weather Initiatives, included efforts underway in the aviation industry and programs with industry, academic, and governmental partners. Furthermore, it adopted the 80% reduction goal and suggested that a reduction in weather-related accidents, as shown by National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident statistics, could be used as an overall measure of success for the current aviation weather initiatives.
In the proceedings of the aviation weather user forum in Bethesda, Maryland of 2000, four major objectives/goals were set for the Aviation Weather community: to highlight programs/processes which have been implemented recently, or are now ready for implementation, to identify ongoing programs which show promising results and must be supported with continuing resources to reach fruition, to illuminate gaps where no work in ongoing or planned, and to identify overlaps and assess them (OFCM, Ops. For Implementation pg.4-1).
