NBAA’s Weather Subcommittee Celebrates First Anniversary by Looking to Expand

July 27, 2015

Listen to an NBAA Flight Plan podcast for more on the Weather Subcommittee

Since weather is responsible for more than 60 percent of the delays in the National Airspace System, the question becomes, “What can NBAA do to help bring this number down?”

In part, the answer lays in participation in the new NBAA Access Committee’s Weather Subcommittee or the Friends and Partners in Aviation Weather (FPAW) industry working group, according to John Kosak, NBAA Air Traffic Services (NBAA ATS) specialist.

“NBAA established the Weather Subcommittee last year to provide opportunities for business aviation operators to collaborate with the broader aviation weather community on finding solutions to the most important weather challenges facing the aviation community – specifically, what new weather tools the FAA and the National Weather Service (NWS) can develop,” Kosak said.

As the committee enters its second year, the focus is to increase membership and participation in the group, he said.

“The goal is to recruit a diverse group of NBAA Members that represent all operational disciplines – from schedulers and dispatchers to pilots and cabin crewmembers – thereby providing the business aviation perspective to the greater weather community,” Kosak added. “We want anybody who is concerned about how do I make it easier, how do I make it so I can get better information regarding weather.”

Commercial airlines, he noted fly into about 500 airports around the country, while business aviation operators fly into and out of about 10 times more airports than that. So, the community needs more detailed information beyond what’s happening in major hubs like Atlanta or Chicago.

Kosak encouraged NBAA Members to participate on the Weather Subcommittee, and help ensure that the needs of thousands of business aircraft operators continue to be addressed. Members who are interested in joining the subcommittee should contact Chairman Bruce Carmichael at brucec@ucar.edu or Kosak at jkosak@nbaa.org.

Friends and Partners in Aviation Weather

Back in 1997, NBAA helped bring together people from the FAA, the NWS, government weather contractors, academics and the aviation weather user community to form FPAW. This group now meets twice a year, with the National Transportation Safety Board hosting the summer meeting and NBAA hosting the fall meeting at its annual Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition.

This year, the fall FPAW meeting will be held on Nov. 18 and 19 during NBAA2015 in Las Vegas, NV. The afternoon of Nov. 18 is dedicated to examining weather impacts on aviation and commercial operations, Kosak said. Topics to be discussed include the radiation environment and its impact on HF radios and the Wide Area Augmentation System. NBAA encourages Members to provide input to the panel discussion, either by attending the meeting in person or by submitting questions in advance to Kosak.

On Nov. 19, there will be a joint briefing from the FAA and NWS on current weather operations. Next, an airport operations official will discuss how to predict runway friction, and an FAA representative will brief attendees about the Terminal Area Icing Weather Information for NextGen. The morning session concludes with a discussion of the different types of aircraft-derived meteorological information.

In the afternoon, the focus on icing will continue with a discussion of high ice-water content engine icing, followed by a look at two more topics of great interest to NBAA Members – emerging aviation weather research and the impact of weather on the operation of unmanned aircraft systems.

“We encourage all Members attending NBAA2015 to share their expertise and experiences at this year’s fall FPAW gathering,” Kosak said.