Preliminary Overview of the FAA Terminal Area Icing Weather Information for NextGen (TAIWIN) 2022 Flight Demonstration

In support of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Terminal Area Icing Weather Information for NextGen (TAIWIN) project objectives, the FAA and a team of researchers conducted a real-time demonstration and subjective evaluation of the recently developed terminal area icing diagnostic and forecast capability, hereafter called the TAIWIN capability. From January to March 2022, this newly-developed TAIWIN capability ran in real-time across the northeastern United States. Both gridded and simplified output from the TAIWIN capability was produced, with gridded likelihood output for the domain and simplified output for select airports. The TAIWIN capability’s icing output categories include none, small-drop, freezing drizzle, and freezing rain. During five weather events of particular interest over the Northeast United States, the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) conducted flights in specific terminal areas of interest with their heavily instrumented Convair-580 research aircraft. Airports of primary interest for the flight demonstration, where supplemental surface sensors were also installed, included Syracuse, NY (KSYR), Rome, NY (KRME), Binghamton, NY (KBGM), Fulton/Oswego (KFZY), and Burlington, VT (KBTV). The Convair-580 flights specifically targeted FZDZ and FZRA in the terminal areas, often sampling at relatively low altitudes, helping to identify and map the icing environment in time and space. Vertical profiles were captured, and included frequent missed approaches, when feasible. Members of the TAIWIN capability development team monitored and qualitatively evaluated the capability in real-time. A summary of the five TAIWIN demonstration flights, preliminary flight and surface data, and observations will be presented.

This research is in response to requirements and funding by the FAA. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the FAA.