Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Ceiling and Visibility Research

Restricted Ceiling and Visibility (C&V) conditions contribute to a disproportionately high rate of fatal General Aviation (GA) accidents. For Regularly Scheduled Air Carriers, adverse C&V conditions impact efficiency at all airports, with certain terminal areas and high traffic airports being more susceptible to impacts than others. The goal of FAA C&V research is to provide targeted improvement to the C&V information that is used for aviation decision making.

The C&V research project is multifaceted and considers all steps along the C&V information processing stream, from initial weather sensing to numerical weather prediction modelling to the use of C&V information in decision making. Areas of research in 2019-2020 include:

1. Supporting safety conscious updates to the Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) weather tool to improve the C&V data as well as to make the overall tool easier to use.
2. Developing camera-based visibility estimation technology.
3. Continuing to improve the High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model C&V analyses and short-range forecasts.
4. Supporting the development of the Real Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA) 2D and 3D cloud fields.
5. Continuing to improve Localized Aviation MOS Program (LAMP) C&V and sky cover analyses and forecasts via ingest of HRRR model data and by increasing the temporal resolution of the forecast.
6. Assessing Slant Visibility operational needs, challenges & opportunities.
7. Researching methods of translating C&V analysis and predictions products into airport capacity and/or safety impacts.
8. Conducting a user needs assessment for additional ceiling observations in Alaska.

The presentation will provide a brief overview of each C&V research area as well as a more in-depth discussion of one or more selected topics from the above list.