Presentation
Effects of Weather Information Observability and Uncertainty on Pilot Assessment of Weather Conditions and Decision Making
DescriptionGeneral aviation (GA) pilots use different types of weather information when assessing weather conditions during pre-flight weather briefing tasks. Of concern is low altitude weather conditions between known surface weather reporting stations, particularly during variable and dynamic weather conditions. FAA authorized weather reporting stations are primarily located at airports, while nearby weather conditions may be subject to differing terrain and microclimate weather patterns. Participants included 24 GA pilots, ranging from 156 to 40,000 hours’ experience, who estimated flight rule conditions at three target locations each (including an actual accident site) in three different regions of the US, at three different levels of display observability regarding available reporting stations. Pilots rarely provided correct estimations of flight rule conditions at targeted locations; accuracy did not always improve with increasing observability of other nearby reporting stations. Despite these errors, pilots were confident in their estimates of flight rule conditions at target locations.
Event Type
Lecture
TimeThursday, September 12th3:20pm - 3:40pm MST
LocationFLW Salon A
Aerospace Systems