An Analysis Of Preflight Weather Briefings
DOT/FAA/AM-07/4Office of Aerospace MedicineWashington, DC 20591An Analysis ofPreflight WeatherBriefingsO. Veronika PrinzoCivil Aerospace Medical InstituteFederal Aviation AdministrationOklahoma City, OK 73125Alfred M. HendrixRuby HendrixHendrix & HendrixRoswell, NM 88201February 2007Final Report
NOTICEThis document is disseminated under the sponsorshipof the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interestof information exchange. The United States Governmentassumes no liability for the contents thereof.This publication and all Office of Aerospace Medicinetechnical reports are available in full-text from the CivilAerospace Medical Institute’s publications Web ports/index.cfm
Technical Report Documentation Page1. Report No.2. Government Accession No.DOT/FAA/AM-07/43. Recipient's Catalog No.4. Title and Subtitle5. Report DateAn Analysis of Preflight Weather BriefingsFebruary 20077. Author(s)8. Performing Organization Report No.12Prinzo OV, Hendrix AM, Hendrix R6. Performing Organization Code29. Performing Organization Name and Address10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)1FAA Civil Aerospace Medical InstituteP.O. Box 25082Oklahoma City, OK 731252Hendrix & Hendrix15 Circle DriveRoswell, NM 8820112. Sponsoring Agency name and Address11. Contract or Grant No.13. Type of Report and Period CoveredOffice of Aerospace MedicineFederal Aviation Administration800 Independence Ave., S.W.Washington, DC 2059114. Sponsoring Agency Code15. Supplemental NotesWork was accomplished under approved task AM-B-05-HRR-51616. AbstractWeather is often cited as a factor in general aviation (GA) accidents and mishaps. The type of weatherinformation requested from, or provided by, automated flight service station (AFSS) specialists is dependent onweather conditions at the time the preflight briefing occurs. However, little is known about how this weatherinformation is used by GA pilots. The purpose of this research was to document the types of AFSS weatherinformation that GA pilots requested and received and how this information might influence flight planning andweather–based decisions. A content analysis was performed on 306 GA pilot telephone conversations with AFSSspecialists who staffed the preflight position. Twenty-four hours of continuous recordings of one good, typical,and bad weather day at an AFSS in the New England, Northwest Mountain, and Southwest Region wereobtained prior to the Federal Aviation Administration contracting out those services. The data show that morecalls were made on days of bad weather than on days of good and typical weather within the vicinity serviced bythe AFSS. Approximately 78% of the pilots requested a preflight briefing (they requested a standard weatherbriefing more often than any other), and about 15% declined a weather briefing when asked by the AFSSspecialist. Of the pilot-requested preflight weather briefings, specialists relayed the following weather items:Weather synopsis, sky conditions (clouds), visibility, and weather conditions at the departure, en route, anddestination point. When pilots declined preflight weather briefings, as they did in 15.4% of the calls (goodweather 16.7%, typical weather 5.0%, bad weather 20.6%), AFSS still relayed weather synopsis and skyconditions (clouds) in addition to any other weather conditions that might prove to be significant during a flight.Whether by asking for additional information or receiving weather information from specialists, 31 pilotsdecided that it was best to change their flight plans (46.9% delayed, 15.6% postponed or cancelled their flights,and 15.6% looked for alternate routes and destination points). Surprisingly, 27% of the pilots who were told‘VFR Flight Not Recommended’ went ahead and filed a VFR flight plan anyway.17. Key Words18. Distribution StatementWeather, Preflight Weather Briefing,Flight Service Station, General Aviation19. Security Classif. (of this report)Unclassified20. Security Classif. (of this page)UnclassifiedForm DOT F 1700.7 (8-72)Document is available to the public through theDefense Technical Information Center, Ft. Belvior, VA22060; and the National Technical InformationService, Springfield, VA 2216121. No. of Pages2422. PriceReproduction of completed page authorized
AbbreviationsAs used in this report, the following abbreviations/acronymshave the meanings orne flight information serviceAFS----------------Flight Standards ServiceAFSS -------------Automated Flight Service StationAIRMET --------Airmen’s meteorological informationATC --------------Air traffic controlATIS--------------Automatic terminal information serviceCFR---------------Code of Federal RegulationsDAT--------------Digital audiotapeDVRS-------------Digital voice reproducer systemEFAS--------------En route flight advisory serviceFAA --------------Federal Aviation AdministrationFAAO ------------FAA OrderFBO---------------Fixed-base operatorsFSS ---------------Flight Service StationGA----------------General AviationGA-JSC-----------General Aviation Joint Steering CommitteeIFR ---------------Instrument flight rulesIMC---------------Instrument meteorological conditionsMOA -------------Military operations areaMTR--------------Military training routeNM - -------------Nautical mileNOAA -----------National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationNOTAM --------Notice to AirmenNTSB-------------National Transportation Safety BoardPFB---------------Preflight briefingPIREP------------Pilot weather reportSIGMET --------Significant meteorological informationSME--------------Subject matter expertTFR---------------Temporary flight restrictionsUSA---------------United States of AmericaUTC -------------Coordinated universal timeVFR --------------Visual flight rulesWX----------------Weatheriii
An Analysis of Preflight Weather Briefings“ When it is evening, you say, It will be fair weather; for the sky is red.’And in the morning, It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ .”—Matthew 16:2-3Since its inception, the automated flight service stationhas evolved to be the single most widely used generalaviation (GA) weather-information-provider. The Codeof Federal Regulations (CFR) 14, Part 91.103 stipulates:“Each pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight,become familiar with all available information concerning that flight. This information must include- (a) Fora flight under IFR or a flight not in the vicinity of anairport, weather reports and forecasts, ” Unlike the14 CFR for Part 121 (domestic, flag, and supplemental)and Part 135 (commuter and on demand) operators, theregulations for Part 91 (general aviation) operators donot stipulate that GA pilots must contact a particular approved source for weather information. They can acquireany weather information in real-time from a multitudeof sources that include television, radio, Internet, andAFSS or by simply going outside and looking at thesky conditions. In preparation for a flight, GA pilots can call theirlocal AFSS to receive standard, abbreviated, and outlookpreflight briefings. AFSS specialists provide them withlocal, en route, and destination weather information toaid route planning and go/no go decision-making whenfaced with possible adverse weather. Generally, the firstcontact by a GA pilot is with the Preflight position, whereeither a visual flight rules (VFR) or instrument flight rules(IFR) flight plan is filed and requests are made for anyspecific information. The Preflight position then wouldrelay a briefing of items outlined in FAAO 7110.10RFlight Services § 3-2-1 through § 3-2-3 (Federal AviationAdministration, 2004).After departure, a GA pilot flying a VFR aircraft coulduse airborne flight information service (AFIS ), but wouldnormally contact the AFSS Inflight/Flight Watch positionfor additional weather information. The pilot of an IFRaircraft may also contact an AFSS Inflight specialist, useAFIS to receive weather information, or speak directlywith an ATC specialist at a Terminal Radar ApproachControl or En route Air Traffic Control facility.Although the focus of this report is on the preflightweather briefings, the availability of weather information during actual flights is worthy of a separate study.In particular, accident data show that the number ofin-flight contacts with AFSS, even by pilots ultimatelyinvolved in fatal weather accidents, averages 3% of theaccident flights (Lenz 2006) . According to Lenz it is thistactical information that is vital to pilots for avoidingweather hazard areas during IFR and VFR flights. Giventhe rapid and immediate access to, and availability of,weather information, it is surprising that weather still islisted as a causal or contributing factor in 30% to 35%of aviation accidents and incidents (Pearson, 2002). Fora comprehensive review and summary of the NTSBaccident reports involving fixed-wing general aviationaircraft weighing 12,500 pounds or less see the Nall Report (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Fight SafetyFoundation 2005).The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) FlightStandards Service (AFS) General Aviation and Commercial Division’s mission has initiated numerous GAsafety programs in response to recommendations made bythe National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB, 1968,1974, 1976, 1989, 2005) regarding weather and pilotdecision-making. The FAA-Industry General AviationJoint Steering Committee (GA-JSC) has focused heavilyon ways to mitigate accidents involving weather and pilotdecision-making. FAA-sponsored research activities are attempting to identify the factors that give rise to GA pilotsflying into instrument meteorological conditions.For example, Driskill, Weissmuller, Quebe, Hand, Dittmar, and Hunter (1997) conducted a study to examinehow pilots evaluate weather and terrain information inpreparation of a flight. They had 150 pilots (age: 18-79yrs) (flight time: 6-26,500 hrs) read three sets of 27 different weather scenarios, sort them from least to mostcomfortable about completing the flight, and assign acomfort rating to each one. Each scenario within a setwas unique with respect to precipitation (light rain,moderate rain, heavy snow), visibility (1 NM, 4 NM, 8NM), and ceiling (800 ft, 1800 ft, 4000 ft) and, whenFor a record of the source of weather information to be available,pilots must contact an AFSS, use DUATs, or use a commercialweather service provider.2AFIS included any automated weather reports other than an AFSSor any other air traffic control facility. It included airborne systems,DUATS, etc. All references to Lenz are from personal communication with him inJune 2006. Michael Lenz was with the FAA’s Office of System Safetyand is currently with the FAA’s General Aviation and CommercialDivision.
combined, they were plausible according to evaluationsperformed by weather experts. The weather scenarioswere representative of three cross-country flights thatvaried in terrain (water: Great Lakes, non-mountainous:North Texas, mountainous: New Mexico). The majorfinding was that pilots consistently used the availableweather information to determine the safety risk associatedwith VFR flights for all weather and terrain conditions.However, pilots differed in their degree of comfort withthe presented weather scenarios when faced with flyingover different terrains. Driskill et al. suggested that pilotsmight differentially weigh weather information accordingto terrain such that higher values (e.g., high visibility)compensated for lower values in others (e.g., low ceiling) for non-mountainous terrains but not for flightsthat involved mountainous terrains (they might use anabsolute value for the decision point).More recently, Knecht, Harris, and Shappell (2005)performed a simulation study that also examined weatherrelated pilot decision-making. In their study, pilots wereprovided with a hypothetical situation in which they wereto transport a piece of equipment from an uncontrolledairfield near Oklahoma City, OK, to an oilfield nearAmarillo, TX. The equipment was crucial to bring oilproduction back on-line. The low-incentive pilots weretold that they were paid on a per-hour basis and wouldbe paid regardless of their fly/no fly decision. Pilots in thehigh-incentive group received a sizeable bonus for immediate takeoff that decreased incrementally with every30-min delay. In preparation for the VFR flight, all pilotsreceived the same current weather report that includedmarginal visibility (1 sm, 3 sm, 5 sm) and cloud ceiling(1000 ft, 2000 ft). After receiving the weather report, theyhad to decide whether to fly, wait and try later, or cancelthe flight. Those pilots choosing to wait received updatedweather reports every 30 min until they either flew ortwo hours elapsed at which time the experiment ended(the weather never improved beyond marginal visibility).Like the findings reported by Driskell et al., the resultsof Knecht et al. suggested that pilots consider both thevisibility and cloud ceiling(s) when deciding whether ornot to fly. It may be that their value judgments becamecompromised when presented with external pressuressuch as a financial bonus (as evidenced with a tendencytoward longer decision times when compared with pilotswho were not offered a bonus). Since the vast majorityof weather-related, fatal accidents occur on cross-countryflights, these pressures are always present on actual flights(Lenz 2006).Although informative, neither study included dynamiccommunication opportunities between the pilots andAFSS personnel (or access to other sources of weatherinformation). Inasmuch as the most recent NTSB safetystudy (2005) reported that in 66% of the fatal and 58% ofthe non-fatal accidents, pilots received preflight weatherinformation from an AFSS before their flights, it didnot report on the quality of the information that thesepilots received. Consequently, little is known about theinformation obtained from the AFSS and its influenceon pilot decision-making during preflight preparations.While the types of services that AFSS provide are listedin the FAA publication FAAO 7110.10R Flight Services,data are not available as to either the frequency that theseservices are provided to pilots or the types of weatherinformation pilots receive that might help mitigate GAfatal accidents related to weather or visibility. This isworthy of further study as related to accidents.This study examined the communications that tookplace between the AFSS specialists staffing the Preflightposition and pilots who called in on the telephone. Thedata were used to develop baseline descriptive statisticsto describe the frequency of occurrence and content ofpreflight briefings with a special emphasis on documentingthe types of weather information that pilots request andmight use when planning a flight or making weather-baseddecisions. Specifically, we conducted a verbal contentanalysis on time-stamped digital audiotape (DAT) recordings that were obtained from FAA-operated AFSSs inthe New England, Northwest Mountain, and SouthwestRegions. In particular, preflight standard, abbreviated, andoutlook weather briefings were examined that representeda good, typical, and bad weather day occurring aroundthe area serviced by each of the three AFSS.METHODMaterialsAudiotapes. One AFSS in the New England, Northwest Mountain, and Southwest Region was contacted andasked to provide 24 hours of continuous DAT recordingsthat best represented a good, typical, and bad weatherday at and around their facility. Each DAT containedseparate voice records of all communication transmittedon the radio frequency assigned to a particular sectorposition on the left channel. The right channel containedthe Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) time code. TheNiceLogger Digital Voice Reproducer System (DVRS)decoded, displayed, and correlated time with the voicestream in real time. Presented in Table 1 are the datesand times of those recordings.AFSS Communication Spreadsheet. Five areas ofinformation were identified and recorded: Facility Information included briefing number, the name of thefacility, sector/position identifier, an assigned AFSS specialist identifier, DAT time sample, the onset of preflightbriefing in UTC (hr:min:sec), proposed departure time,
Table 1. AFSS sampled according to date and time (Local and UTC)FAA Region / WeatherDate and Local TimeDate and UTC (Zulu Time)Good06/02/05 0000 to 06/02/05 235906/02/05 0400 to 06/03/05 0359Typical06/17/05 0000 to 06/17/05 235906/17/05 0400 to 06/18/05 0359Bad06/16/05 0000 to 06/16/05 235906/16/05 0400 to 06/17/05 0359Good05/27/05 0500 to 05/29/05 0500L05/27/05 1200 to 05/29/05 1200ZTypical05/29/05 0500 to 05/31/05 0500L05/29/05 1200 to 05/31/05 1200ZBad05/31/05 0500 to 06/02/05 0500L05/31/05 1200 to 06/02/05 1200ZGood06/12/05 0000 to 06/12/05 2359L06/12/05 0500 to 06/13/05 0459ZTypical06/11/05 0000 to 06/11/05 2359L06/11/05 0500 to 06/12/05 0459ZBad06/10/05 0000 to 06/10/05 2359L06/10/05 0500 to 06/11/05 0459ZNew EnglandNorthwest MountainSouthwestFigure 1. An example of a completed form containingpilot and AFSS specialist communications
Table 2. Number of calls made to each AFSS according to weatherFAA RegionGood28 (30)NorthwestMountain30 (30)Typical29 (30)18 (20)29 (30)076 (80)Bad41 (46)45 (45)41 (45)127 (136)Total98 (106)93 (95)95 (105)286 (306)WeatherNew EnglandSouthwestTotal25 (30)083 (90)and weather. Aircraft Information contained the callsign, type of aircraft, and any weather-related avionicsequipment aboard . Flight Information recorded whetherthe pilot filed a flight plan, the type flight plan, whetherit was a day or night flight, the purpose of the flight, andthe method of communication with the AFSS. PilotRequests/Reports involved whether the pilot requested apreflight briefing, the type preflight briefing, the specificweather, NOTAMs, TFRs, special airspace activity, otherweather information, and whether the preflight briefingaltered the pilot’s intention to fly. AFSS Preflight Information provided for the encoding of type of briefing,specific weather, NOTAMs, TFRs, special use airspace,other information related to the safety of the flight, andwhether VFR flight was not recommended. Presentedin Appendix A is a description of the Excel spreadsheetthat was developed to record/encode this data. It allowsfor the inclusion of communications between the pilotand Inflight and Flight Watch positions.The SME listened to a voice sample stored on the DVRSand developed a form to record the types of informationexchanged between pilots and AFSS specialist. Whilelistening a second time, the SME recorded the contentsof each transmission onto the data entry form such asthe one displayed in Figure 1.During a third pass, the accuracy of the encodings wasevaluated, and if correct, left alone. In some instancesadditional information was added while, in others, valueswere corrected to reflect what was spoken. These datawere entered onto the EXCEL spreadsheets and verifiedby the SME and data entry clerk. If, during error checking, a discrepancy was found, they went to the DVRSand listened yet again to the time sample that correlatedwith the message and data point in question.The EXCEL spreadsheets were imported into SPSSxand combined to create a master database. The data wereonce again subjected to error checking, and only threedata points were corrected.Subject Matter Expert (SME)The SME (a co-author of this report) was an instrument-rated pilot and former air traffic controller whohad worked as an FAA Academy instructor for 8 yearsand had worked for 12 years in FAA supervision andmanagement. This individual had previously encodedover 50,000 ATC messages, suggesting that he was highlyfamiliar and expert in the extraction and codification ofverbal messages.RESULTSAs shown in Table 2, the recordings represented 306calls made on good, typical, and poor weather days occurring in the New England, Southwest, and NorthwestMountain Regions. Each cell in the table represents thenumber of calls according to the aircraft call sign (not inparentheses) made to the AFSS on a particular day andtotal number of calls (in parentheses). Not surprisingly,more unique calls were made on days with bad weatherthan on good and typical weather days, χ2(2) 16.03,p .05 and the geographical location of the FAA AFSSdid not matter, χ2(2) 0.13.The SME listened to the tapes and documentedwhether the pilot requested (239) or declined (47) apreflight briefing (PFB). He also recorded the types ofProcedureThe SME was provided with, and trained on, oneDVRS and received the most recent version of FAAO7110.10R Flight Services. It guided the development ofthe AFSS communication spreadsheet. The SME alsowas instructed on whom to contact at each AFSS facility,should additional information be needed (e.g., call-signidentifiers, routes). This information was provided by the pilots when talking with theAFSS specialist. To meet the assumptions of the Chi-Square test, 10 pilots mademore than one call to an AFSS. Their calls were not included in thestatistical analysis, thereby reducing the number of unique calls to286.
Table 3. Type of preflight weather briefing requested according to the type of flight plan filedType of Preflight Weather Briefing RequestedFlight 9166IFR039350838120Total111983047286weather information requested by pilots or provided bythe AFSS specialists.The pilots generally fell into three basic groups. 1)Local fliers; training schools, students, aircraft buffs,and “hole borers” that stay within 30-50 miles of thedeparture point and return to that airport. This groupmade up a large part of the VFR briefings. 2) Fixed-baseoperators (FBOs) who rent aircraft and transport passengers for hire, advanced training, and short distancecarriers (with stored or pre-filed flight plans), and pilots oflarger aircraft. There appeared to be approximately 60%VFR and 40% IFR pilots. 3) Business, military (trainingand operations), corporate, and long-distance lifeguardpilots who probably will be looking at Internet aviationweather services while discussing the preflight briefingwith the AFSS specialist.As shown in Table 3, an examination of the type offlight plan filed revealed that the VFR pilots requestedstandard weather briefings more often than either abbreviated, outlook, or no briefings χ2(3) 68.17, p .05. On the other hand, IFR pilots seemed to requeststandard and abbreviated briefings to a greater extent thanoutlook briefings and no weather briefings more oftenthan outlook briefings χ2(3) 21.80, p .05.The data presented in Tables 4-5 show that, regardlessof weather conditions, of the pilot-requested preflightweather briefings, AFSS specialists relayed the followingweather items: Weather synopsis, sky conditions (clouds),visibility, weather conditions at the departure, en route,and destination point. More detailed weather data werepassed during periods of adverse weather. Although usedto a lesser degree, these data included adverse conditions,altimeter, cloud tops, dew point, icing conditions, surfacewinds, winds aloft, temperature, thunderstorm activity,precipitation, precipitation intensity, visibility obscuration, other weather, PIREP, AIRMET/SIGMET, MOA,MTR, NOTAMs, and TFRs (see abbreviations).When pilots requested preflight briefings on a goodweather day, AFSS specialists relayed weather synopsis,sky conditions, visibility, as well as the weather conditionsat the departure point, en route weather conditions, andweather at the destination approximately 75%- 85% ofthe time with surface winds included 73.3%. During thesebriefings, pilots tended to request sky conditions, windsaloft, and NOTAMs to a greater extent than to requestthe weather at the destination point or en route. Theywere even less likely to request visibility, surface winds,or upper level winds. Pilots never requested precipitationintensity, icing conditions, altimeter, or TFRs.On a typical weather day, as part of a requested preflightbriefing, AFSS specialists relayed sky conditions, provideda weather synopsis, as well as relayed the weather conditions at the departure, en route, and destination pointsbetween 86.8% to more than 93% of the time. To a lesserextent (76.3%-51.3%), they also provided surface winds,visibility, adverse conditions, thunderstorm activity, andNOTAMs. Pilots, in turn, asked about the en routeweather, sky conditions, and weather at the destinationpoint, followed by requests for TFRs, weather conditions at the departure point, and NOTAMs. They neverrequested visibility obscuration, temperature, dew point,precipitation intensity, or altimeter information.Finally, on bad weather days, as part of a requested preflight briefing, AFSS specialists relayed the sky conditions,provided a weather synopsis, relayed adverse conditions,provided weather information at the departure, en route,and destination points, and surface winds during 80.6%- 89.9% of the briefings. At least 50% of these briefingsalso included visibility, AIRMET/SIGMET, precipitation,and winds aloft information. Pilots, in turn, requestedthe weather at their destination point, followed by enroute conditions, weather at the departure point, andwinds aloft. They never asked about ATC delays, visibilityobscuration, the temperature, or dew point.When pilots declined preflight weather briefings, asthey did in 15.4% of the calls (good weather 16.7%, typical weather 5.0%, bad weather 20.6%), AFSS specialistsstill relayed weather synopsis and sky conditions (clouds),in addition to any other weather conditions that mightprove to be significant during a flight. During these briefings, on good weather days some pilots asked about theweather at their destination points, TFRs, thunderstormactivity, and en route weather conditions. On typicalweather days, conversations included weather conditionsat the point of departure, en route, and at the destination, in addition to winds aloft, thunderstorm activity
Table 4. Percentage of pilot-requested/reported weather information as a function of whether a preflightweather briefing was or was not requested by the pilotType of PilotRequested/ReportedWeather InformationDid pilot report havingAFIS2Did pilot request destinationWXDid pilot request TFRsDid pilot requestthunderstorm activityDid pilot request winds aloftDid pilot request en routeWX conditionsDid pilot request WXconditions at departure pointDid pilot request other WXDid pilot reportthunderstorm activityDid pilot request NOTAMsDid pilot requestAIRMET/SIGMETDid pilot request PIREPDid pilot request cloud topsDid pilot request ATCdelays or flow controladvisoriesDid pilot request icingconditionsDid pilot request skyconditions (clouds)Did pilot request visibilityDid pilot request surfacewindsDid pilot request MOA orMTRDid pilot requestprecipitationDid pilot request visibilityobscurationDid pilot requesttemperatureDid pilot request dew pointDid pilot requestprecipitation intensityDid pilot request altimeter12GoodType of Weather Day for AFSSTypicalPFBPFB FB 7%24.0%14.7%BadPFBRequested26.9%PFB 9%00.0%00.0%00.0%00.0%00.0%00.0%00.9%00.0%The number of pilot preflight briefing (PFB) is:Good WX Requested 75, Good WX Not Requested 15;Typical WX Requested 76, Typical WX Not Requested 4;Bad WX Requested 108, Bad WX Not Requested 28.AFIS is a data link aircraft flight information service that offers graphical and text weather data to pilots.
Table 5. Percentage of AFSS-relayed/reported weather information as a function of whether a preflightweather briefing was or was not requested by the pilotType of AFSSRelayed/RequestedWeather InformationDid AFSS relay WX synopsisDid AFSS relay skyconditions (clouds)Did AFSS relay visibilityDid AFSS relay destinationWXDid AFSS relay en route WXconditionsDid AFSS relay WXconditions at departure pointDid AFSS relay surfacewindsDid AFSS relay adverseconditionsDid AFSS relay NOTAMsDid AFSS relay winds aloftDid AFSS relayAIRMET/SIGMETDid AFSS relay temperatureDid AFSS relay thunderstormactivityDid AFSS relay precipitationDid AFSS relay altimeterDid AFSS relay cloud topsDid AFSS relay visibilityobscurationDid AFSS relay TFRsDid AFSS relay other WXDid AFSS relay PIREPDid AFSS relay precipitationintensityDid AFSS relay dew pointDid AFSS relay MOA orMTRDid AFSS relay icingconditionsDid AFSS relay ATC delaysor flow control advisoriesDid AFSS advise EFASavailableDid AFSS advise currentAFISDid AFSS request PIREPDid AFSS state VFR flightnot recommendedDid pilot change flight planDid pilot change altitudeGoodType of Weather Day for AFSSTypicalPFBPFB uested88.0%88.9%PFBRequested86.7%85.3%PFB 6%11.1%25.0%13.0%03.6%00
obtained prior to the Federal Aviation Administration contracting out those services. The data show that more calls were made on days of bad weather than on days of good and typical weather within the vicinity serviced by the AFSS. Approximately 78% of the pilots requested a preflight briefing (they requested a standard weather
This guide describes how to use the Perceive – Process – Perform risk management framework as a guide for your preflight weather planning and in-flight weather decision-making. The basic steps are: --Perceive weather hazards that could adversely affect your flight. --Process this information to determine whether the hazards create risk .
Preflight Guide v. 1.2 information in an FAA-approved format and records the transaction as an official weather briefing. You might want to print out selected portions of the DUATS computer briefing for closer study and easy reference when you speak to a Flight Service briefer. Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS): You should also
Weather instruments are used to measure and record the weather. Weather instruments can be found in weather stations on land. The Met Office has hundreds of weather stations all over the UK. Weather instruments are also found at sea. They are found on some ships, but mainly on weather buoys designed to monitor weather and sea conditions.
DOT/FAA/AM-11/5 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date Testing Web-Based Preflight Weather Self-Briefing for April 2011 General Aviation Pilots 6. Performing Organization Code 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. Knecht WR 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) 11.
Unit 2 Weather 5 LESSON 1 Today’s Weather BIG IDEAS Weather affects the way we live, what we eat and wear and how we feel. We can describe weather conditions by using mathematics. LESSON 2 What Makes Weather? BIG IDEAS The sun heating the earth and its atmosphere causes the weather. We feel weather as wind, heat or cold, and humidity in the form of rain,
Winter Weather Safety Know Your Risk, Take Action, Be a Force of Nature weather.gov/safety. Building a Weather-Ready Nation // 2 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE Winter Weather Hazards . Keep an eye out for debris, downed power lines, and tree branches weather.gov/safety. Building a Weather-Rea
Weather instruments Weather data Working definition of weather . 4.1-3 PROCEDURES 1. Have the students work in small groups to make concept maps about weather. Have them Include different kinds of weather, tools used to measure weather, and any other ideas they have about weather.
R&D projects, but there are doubts on how many innovations have effectively gone to the market. The mid-term evaluations show outputs and results coming out of collective actions and support to regional filières and clusters. 2011 is the first year with outputs in the field of
