The FAA's Weather Technology in the Cockpit Program (WTIC) program is performing research to develop a "minimum weather service" or “MWS”. The MWS is defined as the minimum weather information needed to support consistently safe and effective pilot decision making in the cockpit as well as standards/guidance for cockpit decision support tools. The overall objective of the MWS is to improve safety and efficiency in the National Airspace System by addressing gaps in cockpit MET technology and MET information that are associated with safety risks. The WTIC program will determine and recommend standards/guidance for the MWS ranging from commercial aviation operations to the General Aviation operator.
In the 17th Conference of Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology in Phoenix, AZ in 2015, the WTIC concept was first presented to the AMS community with details and background on the status of the proliferation of devices providing weather information to the cockpit and the plans/goals of the FAA's WTIC program to evaluate and improve guidance available to the users of this weather information. This presentation will take a look at several years of progress, detailing select research results through human factors experiments, collaborations with academia via The Partnership to Enhance General Aviation Safety, Accessibility and Sustainability (PEGASAS), the FAA's GA Center of Excellence, and near real time application with airline partners. Some of the more intriguing and surprising results will be presented along with details on upcoming activities, cutting edge technologies, and the challenges ahead.
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