22nd Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Harrogate, UK, 28 August - 1st September, 2000
Paper ICAS 2000-6.5.1 (IL)

REDUCING AVIATION WEATHER RELATED ACCIDENTS THROUGH HIGH FIDELITY WEATHER INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION AND PRESENTATION

H. P. Stough (1), D. B. Shafer (1), P.R. Schaffner (1), K. S. Martzaklis (2)
(1) NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, USA; (2) NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, USA

Keywords: aviation, weather, cockpit systems

In February 1997, the U.S. President announced a national goal to reduce the fatal accident rate for aviation by 80% within ten years. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration established the Aviation Safety Program to develop technologies needed to meet this aggressive goal. Because weather has been identified as a causal factor in approximately 30% of all aviation accidents, a project was established for the development of technologies that will provide accurate, timely and intuitive information to pilots, dispatchers, and air traffic controllers to enable the detection and avoidance of atmospheric hazards. This project addresses the weather information needs of general, corporate, regional, and transport aircraft operators. An overview and status of research and development efforts for high-fidelity weather information distribution and presentation is discussed with emphasis on weather information in the cockpit.

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