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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
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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 Up to 6000 people when classes are in session We are here
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
Be Safe 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