To do this, we must combine our efforts with those of the other government agencies to develop better predictive technologies, to make those technologies more widely available, and to work with the users of the system to identify their needs and try to meet them. The vast majority of these accidents involved general aviation aircraft, so we know where we must concentrate our efforts. Technology is only one piece of the puzzle. The other, equally important pieces are pilot training and pilot judgment. To assist in understanding how the FAA participates in disseminating information on weather, I would like to go through how pilots typically obtain information on weather.
Pilots can get weather information from many sources.
Commercial pilots receive their weather information from their airline dispatchers or other approved sources. The information provided is from a combination of sources, including the FAA, the NWS, DOD, and other pilots operating in the area. Pilots are obviously interested in the weather at the point of departure, enroute, and at the destination airport. Once informed about the weather, the pilot must make several decisions. Aside from the obvious decision about whether to operate the flight, the pilot must also make tactical decisions based on information such as reports on the cloud ceilings, visibility, thunderstorms, turbulence, icing, wind shear, winds aloft, and even volcanic ash clouds.