The NTSB just released its report on the ten things they most want to change. The list included all modes of transportation. There were two articles that paid particular attention to the aviation industry. One was titled, "Address Unique characteristics of Helicopter Operations". The one I would like to focus on was titled, "General Aviation: Identify and Communicate Hazardous Weather".
This article was focus on general aviation. The specific information that smaller planes get regarding weather conditions. It talked about the lack of communication by the ATC and National Weather Service and the lack of knowledge or overconfidence of the pilot when entering certain weather conditions. The NTSB felt solutions to be 1) Pilots training and Operations, 2) creation of weather information and advisories and 3) the collection and interpretation and relay of weather information by the FAA and NWS. The work they are doing is in the initial assessing stages, gathering information and creating teams to deal with the issues.
I feel that of all the hot topic issues in the industry it was important that these two made the list. Beginning in the GA as a student pilot, it is invaluable to know how weather can affect your equipment and impair your skill set. I feel that there should always be pilot training and improvement. It is hard to pick just one topic that should be focused on. I know in the past urgency has been placed on pilot sleep patterns and work hours. I feel these are more pressing issues, but we can only deal with one thing at a time. Weather is a crucial part to flight safety and should always be addressed.
I feel the potential for new jobs to address these issues is endless. Right now they have teams out researching. In the future they will need meteorologists, specialist, trainers, books written, pamphlets created, recurrent training, more weather service help in the airlines, more trained professionals when it comes to weather. This has created a whole new pocket of people who will have their own specialized group, maybe called Aviation Weather Specialists.
I want to know the ratio of Instrument rated pilots to non-instrument rated pilots that are killed in IMC in each year. That would potentially give more insight into how many of these accidents were carelessness or ignorance of bad weather vs. a pilot who was rated to be in those conditions having an accident. Its hard to answer this question effectively if we don't know that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kyle, I know it was not required of any of us to determine the number of instrument rated vs non-instrument rated pilots, but it would be interesting to see how many accidents are caused because of pilot negligence to their limitations or if weather information was not sufficiently provided. I agree with you that we will be in need of a variety of jobs in the future, and the potential of a specialized group is very possible.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that there should always be additional pilot training. It's in the pilots best interest to continue their education about aviation beyond the requirements. It does seem like there are a lot of other issues that could be talked about but you can't fix all the issues at once.
ReplyDelete"Aviation Weather Specialists"...I like it. Do you believe that would be a position for someone trained in both meteorology and aviation? Hmm...may also be an opportunity for aviation universities.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of "Aviation Weather Specialists". I feel like its a great opportunity for students interested in both aviation meteorology to have a specific operational position. I could see these "specialists" working in air traffic control facilities and making periodic transmissions on frequency during adverse weather. Why don't we have more specialists employed at ATC facilities right now??
ReplyDeleteI think training, administrative, and research positions will be the majority of jobs created, if the FAA follows through with any of the NTSB's recommendations. How do you think government budget will affect the number of peoples hired to work for/with the NTSB/FAA? I agree your statement that there isn't just one issue the NTSB should focus on. There are always going to be a number of problems that can be addressed, and only the ones which pose the most prominent threat should be tackled first.
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