National Weather Service Professional Development Series Professional Competency Unit

Description of Job Duty Competency to be Achieved

Evaluate and incorporate into the icing forecast process the potential impacts of forecast decisions on aviation operations.

Description of Need

As part of the decision-making process, forecasters should be equipped to assess the impact icing forecasts have on operations within the NAS. They need to evaluate operational considerations associated with the icing forecast process. The emphasis here is on improving the ability of forecasters to directly aid the personnel who make key decisions regarding aviation operations before and during hazardous icing conditions.

Specific Job Task Skills and Knowledge

1. Evaluate how icing conditions or the forecasts of icing conditions affect the day-to-day aviation operations within the NAS. This includes who is affected by these conditions and forecasts, and how they are affected.

2. Readily communicate details of icing conditions or forecasts of those conditions in a tailored form that can be easily interpreted by decision makers within the NAS.

3. Determine the effects of overforecasting the severity and/or coverage of icing.

4. Evaluate the impacts on airfield operations and aircraft at the airfield:

5. Evaluate the impact on in-flight operations:

Note: This section will initially define the phases of flight and their relevance to aviation operations. These phases include taxi, takeoff/climb out, enroute, emergency descent, descent/transition to final approach, final approach/landing/rollout, and missed approach.

6.Determine the impacts of under-forecasting or not forecasting icing.

7. Evaluate the impact on airfield operations and aircraft at the airfield:

8. Evaluate the impact on in-flight operations:

Instructional Components

Instructional Component 7.1: Develop visual scenarios of slow/halted operations. A brief summary of icing forecast impacts can be presented from a pilot's point of view. [web-based]

Instructional Component 7.2: Scenario where icing is not forecast and the aircraft barely recovers control while in-flight. [web-based]

Instructional Component 7.3: Scenario highlighting the most common mistakes made when forecasting the type of icing. [web-based]

Instructional Component 7.4: Breakout of individual groups and the effects that icing conditions have on them. These include the pilot, dispatcher, airport manager, and meteorologist. [web-based]

Instructional Component 7.5: Case Studies of the effects of icing on various phases of flight. These could include conceptual models and actual events. [web- based]

Instructional Component 7.6: Utilized in combination with the Web-based training materials in order to formalize training requirements and provide more flexibility in the training process. [teletraining]

Instructional Component 7.7: Incorporate the scenarios above into a final icing CD-ROM. Basic concepts could be presented as background material for web-based material or teletraining.

Instructional Component 7.8: Training monitors should incorporate local area impacts, assigned aircraft, and mission support topics into this section to further refine this PCU. These materials should be designed to reinforce web-based material and teletraining.

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