Aviation Applications for Satellite-Based Observations of Cloud Properties, Convection Initiation, In-Flight Icing, Turbulence, and Volcanic Ash

摘要

Weather hazards can reduce the safety and constrain the efficiency of our national air navigation system. Not only are most of the air traffic delays caused by weather, but weather is also a factor in many fatal accidents. The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) National Aviation Safety Data Analysis Center (NASDAC), in a study of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident database (a summary of the study's conclusions is available either at www.nasdac.faa. gov/aviation_studies/weather_study/summary.html or from the Office of Systems Safety, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20591), discovered that in the 10 yr prior to 2003, there were 19,562 aircraft accidents involving 19,823 aircraft. Weather was a contributing or causal factor in 4,159 (21.3%) of these accidents, with 41.2% of all weather-related accidents having no record of the pilot receiving a weather briefing.