FAA cutback plan sparks stormy reception from meteorologists (cut from air traffic control centers)

Source: Miami Herald

National Weather Service employees are balking at a cost-cutting proposal that would pull meteorologists out of all 20 air-traffic control centers across the country -- including Miami.
''If we let this happen, people will die. It's that simple,'' said Dan Sobien, president of the union that represents weather service workers. ``It would be devastating for anyone who flies.''

Sobien said the plan will be delivered Tuesday at the behest of the Federal Aviation Administration, which pays for the 84 weather service employees stationed in air-traffic centers. Meteorologists would be moved to two central forecasting locations, in Kansas City and outside Washington, D.C.

Government weather experts have worked side-by-side with air-traffic controllers since 1978, Sobien said, after the National Transportation Safety Board ruled that a crash the previous year was because flight crews could not get quick updates on hazardous weather.

At least four meteorologists are assigned to each air-route traffic control center to provide real-time, face-to-face updates and warnings about turbulent weather that could affect flights.
If the consolidation plan moves forward -- if the FAA accepts next week's proposal, it is expected to enter a testing phase and would also require NTSB approval -- controllers would have to rely on forecasters in Kansas City to advise them about local weather.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/819552.html

Can't be using all that heathen science stuff to direct flights, now can we?

clouds and super cells and micro-bursts and stuff

airplanes don't need to be aware of silly stuff like that

:sarcasm:

"People will die."

Weather forecasters don't have to be in the same building as air traffic controllers. There's no shortage of weather forecasts available through public or private sources.

I'm a pilot and I'm not happy about hearing this proposal.

The FAA has been in a long process of out-sourcing to contractors and cutting back on services. The reduction in quality is noticeable.

This latest item is going to take a meteorologist away who was likely in the same room as controllers, who was watching the local weather like a hawk, and who could tell a controller at a moments notice to have a plane go-around because a micro-burst is developing off the end of a runway. A meterologist five states away just isn't going to be able to provide that level of service.

I seem to remember something about that.

-Hoot

Yes, people will die.
If you have ever been inside an air traffic controller tower, you would know that the concentration of all involved in coordinating air traffic and monitoring all conditions is the most intense you will ever see.
Off-site personnel will never equal the amount of concentration necessary. Their response will be much slower too.
This is a huge mistake.

One of the under-reported things about 9-11 came from the engineer (Herbert Levine) who had invented the asbestos slurry used in most skyscrapers in the 1960's. Around 1971, asbestos was banned by the EPA (at about the time 64 or so stories of the World Trade Center had been built). Higher stories could no longer use this form of asbestos.

He spoke at dozens of engineering meetings, making the statement: "if a fire breaks out above the 64th floor, that building will fall down."

Levine was dead by 2001. His statements from the 70s were studiously ignored. If someone brings his statements up in a way that cannot be ignored, they are distorted and then ignored.

Sometimes people do die.