NATCA Bookshelf

Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA) NEXTGEN Weather Forum A NEXGEN Weather forum was conducted in the NEXGEN theater at ATCA to discuss the how NWP/CSS-WX will be the weather provider for all NAS systems and what data will be available. MIT/LL gave a very good overview of some of the weather products that will be available. This was followed by a Q&A period; the panel consisted of a meteorologist, a controller, an airline dispatcher and an airline pilot. Friends and Partners of Aviation Weather (FPAW) FPAW is an ongoing semiannual meeting involving the aviation meteorology community and operators. The second meeting is always conducted in conjunction with NBAA's annual meeting. The panels covered topics from weather in the cockpit, turbulence information and dissemination, weather modeling data, and airframe reporting and PIREPS. A heated discussion was held about the radar mosaic that is transmitted to the cockpit and what the pros and cons of the different types of mosaic and which provider was giving the best product. A panel was conducted on airframe weather reporting and how they relate to PIREPS. One of the interesting questions was whether a voice recognition software would be able to translate a PIREP and then have it disseminated through the NAS. The turbulence panel covered Delta's new weather application that is being introduced into the cockpit and the need for sharing of information. In addition, the need to sharing information with the back of the plane to help reduce injuries. A concerned that was voiced is the use of ACARS and airline dispatchers to file PIREPS and then the controller not knowing they are being filed. Eddy Dissipation Rate (EDR) is an algorithm that uses onboard sensors to create a number that represents the turbulence around the aircraft. This information is being automatically transmitted to ground stations and added to the models for forecasting but controllers are not privy to the information and therefore are not aware of turbulence in their airspace. A number of airlines are now reporting this information and it was brought up the need to share the data for safety of flight. This is a global issue that is starting to be addressed in the ICAO-MET panel, but needs to be addressed in the US know as more reports are being done automatically without the controller's knowledge.

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