Federal Aviation

Administration

REDAC / NAS Ops 

Gary Pokodner, Program Manager, 

WTIC, ANG-C61

March 8, 2016

Weather Technology in the 

Cockpit (WTIC)

BLI Number: 111140 

Review of FY 2018 

Proposed Portfolio
Federal Aviation

Administration

Weather Technology in the Cockpit 

(WTIC) - Program Description

• Research projects to develop, verify, and validate 

requirements for incorporation into Minimum 

Weather Service (MinWxSvc) standards

• FAR Part 121, OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL 

OPERATIONS (i.e. commercial operations)

• FAR Part 135, OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: COMMUTER AND ON DEMAND 

OPERATIONS AND RULES GOVERNING PERSONS ON BOARD SUCH AIRCRAFT (i.e. 

commuter, on demand, and air taxi operations)

• FAR Part 91, GENERAL OPERATING AND FLIGHT RULES (includes General Aviation 

operations)

• The MinWxSvc is defined as: 

• Minimum cockpit meteorological (MET) information

• Minimum performance standards (e.g. accuracy) of the MET information 

• Minimum information rendering standards

• Enhanced weather training

• Minimum cockpit technology capability recommendations
Federal Aviation

Administration

WTIC Program Overview

Purpose

• Identify causal factors for weather-related General Aviation 

(GA) safety risks/hazards

• Identify causal factors for Part 121/135 adverse weather 

safety risks/hazards and NAS operational inefficiencies 

(current and NextGen)

• Recommend MinWxSvc to resolve/reduce identified safety 

risks and NAS inefficiencies 

• Recommend enhancements to pilot MET-training to resolve 

training shortfalls 

Budget

3

FY15

(funded)

FY16

(funded)

FY17

(request)

FY18

(request)

$3.1M $3.2M $3.2M $3.2M
Federal Aviation

Administration

WTIC Program Overview

Benefits

• Enhanced safety by resolving/reducing adverse-weather safety risks 

before they result in an accident/incident

• Enhanced NAS efficiency and increased capacity resulting from 

cockpit MET information that allows for consistent and predictable 

pilot adverse weather decision making due to established cockpit 

minimum weather service(s)

– Reduced emissions due to enhanced efficiency

– Reduction in flight delays

• Enhanced safety resulting from the resolution of pilot MET-training 

shortfalls

4
Federal Aviation

Administration

WTIC Program Overview

How do we know the program is working:

• MinWxSvc recommendations incorporated into FAA and 

commercial standards and other guidance documents

• Industry incorporates MinWxSvc recommendations

• Reduction/resolution of identified MET information in the 

cockpit gaps 

– Potentially measured benefits with associated operational 

shortfalls (i.e. less injuries due to turbulence encounters) 

• Specific outcomes:

– Enabled data linked near-real time turbulence information to the 

cockpit

– Harmonized data linked service capabilities, technologies, and 

interoperability of MinWxSvc information services globally

– Wind and temperature requirements to support NextGen 4-D 

navigation operations

5
Federal Aviation

Administration

WTIC - Contractors and Labs

• Part 91 Projects

• Tech Center Contractors and AWDE Lab

• NCAR/UCAR 

• PEGASAS 

• Rockwell Collins

• ATSC 

• ERAU 

• Part 121/135 Projects

– SE2020

– NCAR/UCAR

– MITRE 

– MITLL 

– ATAC – METRON Inc.

6
Federal Aviation

Administration

Part 121/135 Projects – Recent 

Accomplishments (Partial List)

• Tactical Turbulence Notification

– Human Over the Loop #2 demonstration of benefits in cabin 

crew preparation and coordination, and initiation of route 

change communication

– Latency acceptable

• Convective Weather Notification

– Human in the Loop (HITL) demonstration of more timely 

adverse weather avoidance decisions especially with Boeing 

pilots (versus Airbus)

– Anecdotally EFB weather with ownship caused decreased trust 

in onboard weather radar due to differences in displayed 

information 

7
Federal Aviation

Administration

Part 121/135 Projects – Recent 

Accomplishments (Partial List)

• Phase 4 Wind Study research plan

– Developing additional interval management (IM) and advanced 

IM trade spaces

– Assessing impacts of increasing FMS wind altitudes from 4 to 9

– Assessing accuracy of available “truth winds” for future wind 

analyses

• Identified numerous gaps of cockpit MET information 

supporting operations in oceanic airspace

– Need to quantify impacts of gaps and benefits pool

8
Federal Aviation

Administration

9

FY18 - WTIC Part 121/135 MinWxSvc 

Outcome and Implementation

Research Requirement FY18 Outputs

FY18 Planned Expenditures

• FAA goals to enhance NAS efficiency, safety, and 

capacity, and to reduce greenhouse emissions

• Research Question: What gaps in MET information in 

the cockpit are safety risks or causal factors in 

reducing NAS efficiency or capacity?

• Requirement is to identify and resolve operational 

inefficiencies (current and NextGen)and safety risks 

attributable to MET information in the cockpit gaps

• Sponsors/Collaborations : AFS, AVS, NextGen 

• Outcome supported: FAA goal to increase NAS 

operational efficiency and capacity in current and NextGen 

operations, and to enhance overall safety

• Develop recommendations for a Part 121/135 

MinWxSrc that resolves MET information in the 

cockpit gaps

• Benefits resulting: Resolution of MET information in the 

cockpit gaps contributes to enhanced NAS efficiency and 

capacity, and resolves safety risks attributable to the 

information gaps •Approximately $2.3M 

• Plan for flight demonstration of tactical turbulence 

notification and method of selecting notified aircraft

• Identification of cockpit technology advancements with 

potential to enable NAS efficiency increases

• Updated functional analysis using updated ConOps and 

assessment of impacts of NextGen far term concepts on 

Version 1 MinWxSvc recommendations

• Demonstrated integration of Nav and flight (inc Wx)) 

information into pilot decision support tools 

• MinWxSvc recommendations to resolve selected oceanic 

airspace gaps

• Support RTCA SC-206 document updates to harmonize 

AI and MET services with EUROCAE

• Identification of benefits pool for providing MET 

uncertainty information in the cockpit 
Federal Aviation

Administration

Part 91 Projects – Recent 

Accomplishments (Partial List)

• Flight Standards formally accepted 100 MET questions 

for inclusion in the pilot written exam

• Project plan for Phase 2 research to demonstrate 

crowd source processing and cloud technology 

– Identified Bayesian algorithm for determining crowd size(s)

– Identified candidate cameras for images to process

• Phase 2 research on gaps and causal factors of 

inadvertent flight into IMC

– Generic weather training provided no measurable benefit

– Shortfalls identified included over-reliance on technology, time 

to decide, and misperception of risks

10
Federal Aviation

Administration

Part 91 Projects – Recent 

Accomplishments (Partial List)

• Evaluation of weather forecast uncertainty information 

in the cockpit impacts on pilot decision making

– No benefit in pilot decision making was demonstrated

– Risk assessment tool used to convey uncertainty outperformed 

pilots indicating tool has potential to provide a benefit

• Cumulative risk/uncertainty difficult to mentally calculate

– Rendering of tool and insufficient training on tool may have 

impacted demonstration results 

• Developed database of accident reports for performing 

detailed trend analysis on extensive list of keywords

– Developed initial immersive training for selected trend items

11
Federal Aviation

Administration

Part 91 Projects – Recent 

Accomplishments (Partial List)

• Completed development of PC-based latency trainer 

and associated training materials

– Plan to use at Sun ‘N Fun Fly In and Expo

– Trainer being provided to Embry Riddle Aeronautical 

University (ERAU)

12
Federal Aviation

Administration

13

FY18 - WTIC GA MinWxSvc 

FY 18 Outputs

Research Requirement Outcome and Implementation

FY18 Planned Expenditures

• FAA goal is to lower the GA accident/incident rate

• Research Question: What gaps in MET information in 

GA cockpits and shortfalls in GA pilot MET training 

are safety risks?

• Requirement is to define a minimum weather service 

for GA cockpits to resolve MET information gaps 

identified as safety risks, and to resolve shortfalls in 

pilot weather training and test questions

• Sponsors/Collaborations: AFS, AIR, AVS, NextGen, 

GA JSC, NTSB, AOPA 

• Outcome Supported: FAA goal is to reduce the overall GA 

accident and incident rate by resolving safety risks before 

they become causal factors in GA accidents

• Develop recommendations for a GA minimum 

weather service that resolve MET information in the 

cockpit gaps and pilot MET training shortfalls that 

have been identified as safety risks

• Benefits Resulting : More effective and consistent 

adverse weather decision making by GA pilots enhances 

GA safety and the defined minimum weather service 

resolves MET information gaps identified as safety hazards

• Training modules and additional test questions

• MinWxSvc recommendations for latency demonstrator 

capability and associated training, rendering to resolve 

selected gaps (i.e. change blindness), and initial crowd 

sourced information applications.

• Trade studies to resolve unique safety risks for special 

GA operations (HEMS, Alaska, etc)

• MET uncertainty information trade studies per roadmap

• Service analyses as necessary

• MinWxSvc recommendations for selected causal trends

•Approximately $1M