Weather Reporting in Administration the NAS, Current and Future - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Weather Reporting in Administration the NAS, Current and Future - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Federal Aviation Weather Reporting in Administration the NAS, Current and Future Needs Presented to: Friends and Partners in Aviation Weather Gordy Rother By: April 15, 2020 Date: Federal Aviation Federal Aviation 1 Administration


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Federal Aviation Administration 1

www.faa.gov/uas

Presented to: By: Date:

Federal Aviation Administration

Federal Aviation Administration

Weather Reporting in the NAS, Current and Future Needs

Friends and Partners in Aviation Weather Gordy Rother April 15, 2020

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Federal Aviation Administration FPAW Spring 2020

Weather Reporting in the NAS, Current and Future Needs

Panel 1: Scott Stacy & John Steventon

  • NAS Weather Reporting

– Present state of observations – Lack of Weather Observations – Tom George (AOPA) GA Needs. Discussing the challenges of operations with lack of reliable weather reporting and access. – Don Eick (NTSB) Discuss the accidents in low level remote areas. – Dave Kochevar (AAWU) Challenges in Alaska

Panel 2: FAA Options

  • Visual Observation System (VWOS) Gordy Rother (FAA)

– Silver Standard

  • RTMA: Danny Sims (FAA)

Panel 3: FAA and Industry Options for Solutions

  • FAA Weather Research: Kevin Johnston and John Steventon (FAA)
  • Industry Don Berchoff (TruWeather), Chris Baur (Hughes Aerospace), Justin Hilliard (UPS Flight Forward)
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Federal Aviation Administration FPAW Spring 2020

Panel 1: NAS Weather Reporting

  • 2278 total certified weather reporting systems in the CONUS covering

178,823 square miles.

  • 3,041,149.19 Square Miles of uncovered ASOS/AWOS weather report
  • 97.5% of CONUS does not have an Approved Weather Source
  • Boundary Layer
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Federal Aviation Administration FPAW Spring 2020

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Federal Aviation Administration FPAW Spring 2020

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Federal Aviation Administration FPAW Spring 2020

Lack of METARs in the NAS

  • Severe lack of weather OBS and Forecasts

– Widespread operational impacts – Economic impacts attributable – Accidents and fatalities attributable

  • Aviation Weather Data Needs

– UAS Operations Boundary Layer – HAA Operations – Low Level GA Traffic

  • Uncontrolled airports needing weather information
  • Part 137 AG Ops
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Federal Aviation Administration FPAW Spring 2020

The Gold Standard - METAR

  • AWOS/ASOS is the only approved source
  • Only use for IFR Operations
  • FAA-Only approved sensors are allowed
  • FAA-Only Technicians authorized to Certify
  • New Technologies are smothered by FAA constraints
  • Industry reluctance to establish other solutions- FAA will not approve
  • AWOS cost ~$1.2M per copy
  • Airports Improvement Plan (AIP) funding allows for the procurement
  • f weather systems
  • There are no other viable solutions on the horizon
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Federal Aviation Administration FPAW Spring 2020

Potential Solutions

  • We need an Alternative: “Silver Standard”
  • Visual Weather Observation System (VWOS – FAA) Weather Camera’s Upgraded

with 360 degree Pan, Tilt and Zoom Functionality with additional sensors.

  • Industry – VWOS system specifications are expected to be open source. This

will allow industry to build a lower cost solution. With more of these systems we will receive more data and more data will enhance other programs/systems like RTMA, in turn producing better forecast models.

  • Real Time Mesoscale Analyses (RTMA) - NWS
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Federal Aviation Administration FPAW Spring 2020

RTMA

  • AFS-400 has funded research with National Center for Environmental

Predication (NCEP) and Environmental Modeling Center (EMC)

– First year analysis yielded positive results using RTMA in lieu of AWOS/ASOS – Second year statement of work has been finalized to focus the analysis into regional areas

  • RTMA has a potential to support low level remote operations where certified
  • bservations are not available
  • Funding has been provided for RTMA continued research and is being arranged

for VWOS project development