Current CWSU Operations and the ATWO Prototype of the Future

OVERVIEW FORMATION of the CWSUs CWSU OPERATION EVOLUTION of and FAA’s plans for CWSUs FUTURE of the CWSUs

Southern Flight 242 From Huntsville, AL to Atlanta, GA Flew into intense part of thunderstorm due to attenuation of 3 cm onboard weather radar during the summer of 1977 Both engines flamed out due to hail 62 of the 85 on board and 8 on the ground died

NTSB Recommendation A To formulate rules and procedures for timely dissemination by AT controllers of all available severe weather information to INBOUND and OUTBOUND flight crews in the TERMINAL AREA

How to do this?? FAA contracted NWS to set up 3 person weather units in 13 Air Route Traffic Control Centers in April 1978 Used NAFAX, teletypewriters, telephones and Weather Bureau Radar Remotes Added a 4 th meteorologist and expanded to all 20 CONUS ARTCCs in August 1981

Routine ZDC Operations Arrive on duty: 0530L or 1300L Weather Familiarization 1-2 hours Prepare Briefing Sheet and 3 Graphics Brief PCT and DC metro airports with a Traffic Mgmt Coordinator by VSCS Standup briefing to OMIC, STMC and operations supervisors

Routine Operations continued Answer all weather questions Provide Enroute Flight Advisory Service specialist at the AFSS with a briefing Help with AIRMET and adjacent ARTCC Center Weather Advisories dissemination Participate in bihourly Collaborative Convective Forecast Product chat room discussions

Non Routine ZDC Operations Give verbal weather briefing updates Prepare and issue CWAs and MISs Disseminate severe weather watches Collaborate with other CWSU meteorologists, AWC and WFO short term forecasters Train TMCs and Ops supervisors on WC duties and Harris Wx Briefing Terminal use

Over the Years 1980s and 1990s Not sure what FAA needed weatherwise?? Tried to satisfy ARTCC’s needs No clear managerial oversight by FAA or NWS Some CWSUs & ARTCCs “clicked” Proximity of CWSU and TMU is important Equipment upgrades:WARP, ARD, internet

FAA Consideration of CWSU May 1993 Group assembled in Kansas City Considered Four Options 1. Status Quo 2. Consolidation using NWS meteorologist 3. Have FAA meteorologists 4. Contract Out

FAA CWSU ACTION PLAN Replace all 84 NWS CWSU meteorologists with enhanced weather trained EFAS spcls Hire all 84 nws cwsu meteorologist in FAA Hire some of current CWSU meteorologists and backfill remaining positions with enhanced weather trained EFAS specialists Status Quo POC test at ZHU ARTCC in 1997

Decision Based Weather needs for the ARTCC TMU Forecast parameters: ceiling, visibility, thunderstorms, icing, turbulence, llws, clear air turbulence and jetstream For three time periods: less than one hour, 0ne to four hours and four to eight hours For three different geographical areas: Terminal, Gate and ARTCC control area

NTSB Recommendation A USAir Flight 1016 accident in Charlotte, NC on July 2, 1994 Called for operational procedures that would enable meteorologists to disseminate information about rapidly developing hazardous weather conditions (TS and LLWS) to FAA TRACONs and ATCTs immediately upon detection

NTSB Recommendation A American flight 1420 runway overrun during landing at Little Rock on 7/1/99 CWSUs to be staffed at all times when significant weather is forecast 24/7 versus OT

ATT Plan for restructuring /consolidating CWSU Committed to redefining the CWSU mission Raise the level of performance to meet the needs of safety and capacity Answer the NTSB and obtain satisfactory response to both open recommendations Technology addressed NTSB weather sup- port concerns for ATCTs and TRACONs??

New Mission Statement for CWSU operations To be cognizant of hazardous weather information covering all phases of flight, Participate in strategic planning and support the transition to tactical operations. The mission is defined by the needs of the national system of traffic management that meet objectives of safety, efficiency and security

FAA-NWS Functional Audit Conducted at 7 CWSUs including ZNY, ZOB and ZDC April thru June 2003 Had two NWS representatives on the team Findings biased to justify the ATT proposed Restructuring CWSU Plan Noted 10 “deficiencies” some isolated to just a few of the CWSUs visited

FAA-NWS Functional Audit Confusion regarding mission of the CWSU and who its customers are Limited hours of operations (2 shifts a day) Non-standardized products and services Limited product utility Lack of system capability & standardization Lack of communication with aux facilities

Functional Audit continued Lack of collaboration with other CWSUs and WFOs Limited funding for training of CWSU meteorologists Problems with management and oversight Limited resources to support the program

CONOPS for an Integrated Weather Forecast Process to Support the nas Submitted by CWSU tiger team in Dec 03 Work conducted in full consideration of ATT redefined CWSU mission statement Team’s CONOPs attempts to address each of the deficiencies noted on functional audit Provide a new 0 to 8 hour TRACON area forecast for arrival corner posts and departure corridors Updated hourly or bihourly

New Standard Tactical Decision Aids For specific pacing/hub airports and their runways For TRACON arrival corner posts and departure corridors and a “compression” TDA For jet routes and ARTCC sectors (TS now) Based on known AT capacity rules for specific weather elements tailored to specific local needs Enable TFM and other NAS decision makers to coordinate and develop operations for the safe and efficient flow of aircraft based on weather impacts

Current Terminal Forecast Matrix 1.Made and updated using WARP Graphic Display Editor 2.Quick Replication is managed using copy function of the editor to replicate boxes while setting up your templates. 3.Each Office will have to determine the Terminal sensitivities based on discussions with the customer. Other offices may have more or different categories than DFW. 4.Develop the Terminal Matrix for each hour of the day that the CWSU is in operation and save each in your WARP map directory or it’s equivalent. 5.Color comes by using the Graphic Display Editor color tablet and clicking the individual boxes. The product can then be saved on WARP and distributed throughout the ARTCC via the BTs.

Thunderstorm Forecast Matrix for the Arrival Gates 1.Made and updated using WARP Graphic Display Editor 2.Quick Replication is managed using copy function of the editor to replicate boxes while setting up your templates. 3.Each Office will have to determine the Arrival Gate sensitivities based on discussions with the customer. 4.Develop the Arrival Gate Matrix for each hour of the day that the CWSU is in operation and save each in your WARP map directory or it’s equivalent. 5.Color comes by using the Graphic Display Editor color tablet and clicking the individual boxes. The product can then be saved on WARP and distributed throughout the ARTCC via the BTs.

0-30% Coverage = Green 30-60% Marginal = Yellow >70% Impacted = Red Arrival Gates and Sectors These TS coverage thresholds determine the colors in the Corner Post TDA (previous slide.)

Standard NWS forecast production system for the CWSU Collaborating on weather thresholds critical to enroute and terminal operations: Improve services generated by awc & wfos Allow for interactive and on-demand dissemination of CWSU-generated information to various FAA AT customers Collaborate with WFO on terminal to approach/departure phase forecast consistency Collaborate with AWC on enroute to approach/ departure phase forecast consistency

CONOPS Benefits Adaptable to any airspace & facility support configuration Facilitates a “systems” approach to supporting capacity demands Increases overall shared sit awareness Promotes “functional specialties” in process Compels and supports strong collaboration Tailoring of products & services to needs

TigerTeam Recommendations Develop TDAs meeting operational demand Design/Deploy standard CWSU workstation better integrating them into core NWS ops Shift cwsu mgmt & oversight to nws region Develop realistic & targeted training Cooperative funding arrangement with FAA Do simultaneous prototyping and implemen -tation of CONOPS

NOAA NWS forecast information and services to the NAS proposed conop Products tailored to decision making..TDAs resulting in less need for consultation Need for verbal briefings succeeded by high information content easily understood graphical products..TDAs..designed for & disseminated to FAA decision makers Value of in-person advisory services supplanted by products themselves..TDAs Extending beyond TMU to entire AT community

Next Generation Air Transportation System Developed by Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) Timeline for TDA implementation TDA Implementation NAS integration on DSR/ETMS transition to JPDO capability with their 4D AT model operational

Recent CWSU events ATT seemed happy with CTT recommendations ATT received several unsolicited bids from private industry to take over CWSU program & may issue RFP in October $500K earmark to Wx News Inc to develop remote weather briefing at ZOB & ZME ATT had CWSU Activity Value Analysis done by Booz Allen Hamilton in Fall 2005

Activity Value Analysis Team Visited 7 CWSUs like functional audit Products with most inconsistencies in perceived product valuation by cwsu & tmu Evaluated CWSU’s performance in 3 areas 1. Overall importance to FAA mission 2. Satisfaction of product 3. Criticality of product

Seven Common Themes Lack of Standardization products,tools etc. No formal quality assurance process No formal feedback process Met training for CWSU & TMU not standard Knowledge of microclimates & local traffic flow pattern important to customer Customers prefer ON-SITE CWSU Customers do NOT require 24/7 capability

NWS ATWO Prototype Test 05-21L Monday thru Friday in July & Aug ZDC & ZHU CWSU mets = safety net Best Method for 20% fewer FTE & 24/7ops ZDC CWSU ops out of LWX WFO ZFW covering larger domain zfw & zhu cta What is being tested?? Remote vs present onsite weather support Development of Tactical Decision Aids Aug

Future of CWSUs Post Test? Aviation Prototype team will submit their recommendation to the Corporate Board which will forward their recommendation to ATT Oct Present CWSU-FAA interagency agreement expires Dec 31 st with optional one year extension 2007 may be time of transition with 20% reduc- tion in CWSU FTEs for FY 08 and 09, or CWSU contracted out or status quo or earmark