Activities of the National Weather Service Office at

							      National Weather Service
           FAA Academy
         Oklahoma City, OK

The National Weather Service Office
       at the FAA Academy

    Robert A. Prentice - Meteorologist Instructor
                 Who Are We?

   7 NWS Employees
    •   Meteorologist-in-Charge
    •   Administrative Support Asst.
    •   5 Meteorologist Instructors

   Funded by Federal Aviation Administration
    (FAA) via Memorandum of Understanding
    (MOU)
      MMAC Organizational Chart
We are here            Up to 6000 people when
                       classes are in session
          What is Our Mission?
“The mission of the National Weather Service (NWS)
Office at the FAA Academy is to provide weather training
for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Traffic
Controllers, write reference materials, and administer NWS
Certification examinations for FAA (and Lockheed Martin)
Pilot Weather Briefers and Tower Visibility Observers.”




            “Keeping pilots out of harms way”
                     What Do We Do? –
                     Classroom Training
   Teach FAA Academy Residence Courses
    •   Air Traffic Basics (26 hours of weather training)
    •   Initial Terminal Training (4 hours of Tower Visibility)




* We train entry-level controllers. We do not train pilot weather
   briefers – Lockheed Martin and The University of Alaska do that
           What Do We Do? –
    New Course for En Route Controllers
   On-going collaboration between the FAA Air
    Traffic Training Division and NWS/FAA
    Academy

   Plan/outline completed…content work underway

   Application of pertinent weather information to
    en route Air Traffic Control decision-making

   Focus on en route hazards (e.g., thunderstorms,
    turbulence, icing)
   Scenarios will be included
              What Do We Do? –
        Computer-Based Training Courses
   Subject-matter experts for FAA (and NWS)
    Computer-Based Training (CBT) courses:
    •   Basic Aviation Weather
    •   Weather Graphics Interpretation
    •   Adverse Weather
    •   Low-Level Wind Shear/Microburst Alerts
    •   WSR-88D Radar Image Interpretation
    •   Weather Satellite Data Interpretation
    •   Distance Learning Aviation Course (DLAC) (NWS)
         What Do We Do? – Pilot Weather
               Briefer Certification
   We issue a "Certificate of Authority for Pilot Weather
    Briefing" when a briefer candidate successfully passes all
    of the following pre-flight pilot weather briefer (PWB)
    certification examinations:
    1. Weather Analysis (online)
    2. Satellite (online)
    3. WSR-88D Weather Radar (online)
    4. Oral Pilot Weather Briefing Practical (phone)

    •   Random/scheduled Pre-Flight Oral PWB Proficiency Checks
        (phone)
    •   HNL International Oral PWB Proficiency Checks (phone)
               What Do We Do? –
         En Route Flight Advisory Service
              (EFAS) Certification
   We issue an En Route Flight Advisory Service (EFAS)
    Pilot Weather Briefing Certificate when briefer candidate
    successfully passes of the following certification
    examinations:

    1. EFAS Written Certification Test (online)

    2. Oral EFAS Practical (phone)


    •   Random EFAS proficiency checks (phone)
               What Do We Do? –
           Tower Visibility Certification
   We also issue a “Tower Visibility Observers Certificate”
    to those personnel involved with augmenting surface
    observations when they successfully pass the following
    certification examination:
    1. Tower Visibility (online)
              What Do We Do? –
     Maintain NWS Certification Databases

   Pilot Weather Briefer (850+)
        Pre-flight and EFAS



   Tower Visibility (~1000)




    Note: Databases are located on a secure server at NWS Southern Region
                        Headquarters in Fort Worth, TX
                 What Do We Do? –
              Write Reference Materials
   NWS Instruction 10-809 “Support to the
    Federal Aviation Administration’s Pilot
    Weather Briefer Program.”
    •   Review other NWS aviation weather directives
   FAA/NWS Advisory Circular “Aviation
    Weather Services” (AC 00-45)
   FAA/NWS Advisory Circular “Aviation
    Weather: For Pilots and Flight Operations
    Personnel” (AC 00-6)
What Do We Do? – Flight Service
 Station Site Evaluation Visits
                        Lockheed Martin



 Closing
Feb 2009




                 Hub Facility
What Do We Do? – Flight Service
 Station Site Evaluation Visits
                       Federal
                       Aviation
                     Administration
                        (FAA)
                       Automated Flight
                       Service Station
                           (AFSS)

                      Flight Service Station
                             (FSS)
                NWS/FAA Academy
         Oral Pilot Weather Briefing Evaluations
   Typically scheduled 1-4 weeks ahead of time
   We perform 2 per day
    •    3 per day during heavy periods and if workload permits
   Each takes ~ 3 hours
   Briefer candidate workstation
        Lockheed Martin                         FAA




        FS-21                           OASIS
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/faa/
      Robert A. Prentice
        NWS, W/SR64
    Building 30, Room 107
   6500 S. MacArthur Blvd
Oklahoma City, OK 73169-6901
 Robert.A.Prentice@noaa.gov
        (405) 954-6866