NTSB's Top Ten Most Wanted List in 2014

There are two aviation related safety areas that made the NTSB's 2014 list.  The first is Unique characteristics of helicopter operations and the second is General Aviation: Identify and communicate hazardous weather.  I am more concerned about the second issue because it address's a very significant problem with information and communication.

The NTSB is interested in developing better ways to identify and communicate hazardous weather in a more timely manner in an attempt to make general aviation safer.  One of the problems today though is that the weather information is very timely.  So much so in fact that pilots feel they have an up to the minute picture in the cockpit on a well colored technically advanced display screen.  Pilots feel they have the weather right there in front of them and can utilize the picture to navigate through hazardous conditions narrowing there safety margins dramatically.  One thing forgotten about weather is that it is very dynamic and ever changing.  Many pilots of general aviation aircraft get to far into hazardous weather and are to slow to escape when things get dangerous often finding themselves disoriented.

Pilot ability to read and understand weather is also a major issue.  Some pilots of general aviation aircraft have weather display equipment that rivals that found in commercial airliners.  The difference is the time spent using and level of training on the equipment combined with the understanding of actual weather phenomena.  That is what makes up the large difference in the accident statistics and fatalities between the two different operations.  In my opinion, at the private pilot level, there is an insignificant amount of relevance placed on weather training.  You are taught the regulations of visibility and ceilings that you must abide by to conduct a flight but do not have thorough enough coverage of frontal zones and changing pressures to understand what weather is or may be developing.  Timely information is not the answer if you don't understand the information you are being given.

This has been a significant topic for me because nearly anyone can fly an airplane on a calm, severe clear day.  It is when the weather changes that causes the greatest workload on general aviation pilots.  You have to collect the weather for the route of flight, recognize and understand what weather is significant, and determine what weather may develop throughout the flight.  With the amount of gadgetry in the cockpit today, the question arises as to how much weather information is actually being collected and utilized in the preflight go no-go decision anyway.

The NTSB aims to make hazardous weather communication a forefront issue this year and as a result there will be new jobs.  There will be expansion in weather collection and forecasting as well as weather research.  Although these jobs may not increase those available under the aviation title, there will be new jobs none the less.  The place where there may be new jobs in aviation as a result would be teaching weather to new pilots and training  on new weather depiction equipment.