Real-time weather information is needed in the cockpit to deal with conditions such as those that played a role in the 2 June crash of an American Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-82 in Little Rock, Arkansas, says the US Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).
ALPA's Paul McCarthy told a Congressional panel: "In this age of electronic technology, everyone in the pilot's communications chain has better weather information than pilot and crew have available in the cockpit." He says flight crews need direct access to real-time weather graphics via a data link, but "development of this technology has been slow, partly because commitment to fund some levels of system development has apparently been hesitant." McCarthy also advocates requiring Doppler weather radars in all US Federal Aviation Regulations Part 121 carrier transports.
The US Air Transport Association's Robert Frenzel says carriers need direct access to weather data generated by the Raytheon Terminal Doppler Weather Radar, Low Level Windshear Alert Systems and other new state-of-the art safety devices. "Many of the potential benefits of getting improved weather data to the cockpit will not be realised without a continued commitment to implementing datalink," he says, "but, as more information is sent to the cockpit, the available radio frequency spectrum is further burdened."
Jim Hall, head of the US National Transportation Safety Board, is "encouraged" by the US Federal Aviation Administration's efforts to field weather-predicting devices, but is "concerned about the timeliness of the scheduled implementation of the needed equipment-we urge that development and installation of much needed technology be expedited."
Source: Flight International
