Aviation Weather

Status of FAA's New Hazardous Weather Detection and Dissemination Systems Gao ID: RCED-87-208 September 29, 1987

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) efforts to: (1) develop better ground-based hazardous weather detection systems; and (2) disseminate weather information to pilots in a more timely manner.

GAO found that: (1) the enhanced low-level wind-shear alert system (LLWAS) could not detect wind shears that occurred above or below its ground-based sensors; (2) the terminal next-generation weather radar has a much greater range and is more accurate than LLWAS in detecting wind shears; (3) FAA will replace LLWAS with the terminal doppler weather radar when it becomes available; (4) FAA plans to award a procurement contract for 100 doppler radars in 1988, although the radar has not realized some performance objectives; (5) some of the doppler radar's performance objectives could require competing siting and scanning strategies; (6) FAA was uncertain on how best to use its improved weather detection data; and (7) an effective communication system to inform pilots of weather conditions was at least a decade away.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Team: Phone:


The Justia Government Accountability Office site republishes public reports retrieved from the U.S. GAO These reports should not be considered official, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Justia.