Enhancing Ceiling and Visibility Capabilities in the Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) Tool

NOAA Aviation Weather Center (AWC), in partnership with the FAA’s Aviation Weather Research Program (AWRP), is currently working to enhance the representation of ceiling and visibility in the Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) Tool. The HEMS tool is designed to be an intuitive web-based platform that presents weather conditions for short-distance and low-altitude flights to non-weather experts quickly and effectively. Having timely and accurate representation of low ceilings and visibility is crucial for the flight planning needs of the HEMS community. To best meet this need, AWC is working with collaborative partners at Earth Systems Research Lab (ESRL) Global Systems Division (GSD), National Center for Environmental Protection (NCEP)’s Environmental Modeling Center (EMC), NWS Meteorological Development Laboratory (MDL), and FAA’s Aviation Weather Demonstration and Evaluation (AWDE) Services to determine which ceiling and visibility analysis provides users the information needed for decision making, as well as investigating the capability and value of providing a forecast of ceiling and visibility.

To reach the goal of providing a robust analysis with minimal latency, AWC is evaluating guidance from EMC/GSD’s Real Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA, RTMA-RU), MDL’s Local Aviation Model Output Statistics Product (LAMP), and the National Ceiling and Visibility Analysis (NCVA), which is currently implemented in the operational HEMS Tool. This evaluation examines the product latency, the quality and verification of the analyses, and feedback from the end-users.

AWC is also working with AWDE to conduct a user assessment of a short term ceiling and visibility forecast within the HEMS Tool, a capability which is not available in the operational product. The goal of the assessment is to determine the usability and suitability of providing a rapidly updating LAMP forecast within the tool. Highlights of the evaluation results will be presented.

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