News

Good evening, fellow aviation weather enthusiasts. Yesterday was precisely five short weeks from the start of the Spring 2024 FPAW Meeting. If you've not been paying attention (WHAAAT?), it will take place at the HQ of Southwest Airlines in Dallas, TX from TUE-THU, April 30-May2, 2024. Both in-person and virtual attendance will be supported. Did I mention that, as always, it's FREE?

But, you need to register here. And you need to do so pretty soon.

Why, you ask? Well, for starters our room will hold 100 comfortably, and we want to be comfortable.

Next, the FPAW Dinner will take place at Globe Life Field in Arlington, where we'll watch the World Series Champion Texas Rangers take on DC's hometown team, the Washington Nationals. Can you smell those hot dogs and that stale beer? Mmmm. But, in order to join us there, you'll need to contact Bryan Beck by April 1, 2024 (that's 4+ days away!) as per the instructions on the bottom of the registration page and send him a few bucks to reserve a seat.

Finally, and certainly of utmost importance, there's the agenda. Over the first two days, Don Eick/NTSB, Nathan Polderman/United Airlines, Rex Alexander/Vertical Flight Society and Bryan Beck/Turbulent Aerospace will be leading discussions among Legacy and Vertical Flight/Low Altitude Operators as they advise us, based on their experiences, on Aviation Weather Information and Education Gaps. On day three, Joel Siegel/FAA will help us synthesize and synchronize what we heard the first two days. We'll also be hearing from the FAA Weather Community of Interest (Randy Bass, Alfred Moosakhanian) and the NWS Radar Next Program (Jessica Schultz, Frank Gallagher). Steve Darr's FPAW Slaw will feature KD Lena from Northwest Research Associates, who will bring us up to speed on the latest Space Weather impacts.

So, what are you waiting for? Get off your carcass, get signed up, and join us for the Spring 2024 FPAW Meeting!

Matt Fronzak and Matthias Steiner
FPAW Co-Chairs

Happy normal penultimate day of February, except for this year and every four years thereafter.

In conjunction with the imminent arrival of Spring, and all the associated pollen and thunderstorms, we're excited to let you know that the Spring 2024 FPAW Meeting dates, location information, high level agenda and registration form are all now available on the FPAW web site here. If that link doesn't work for any reason, input https://fpaw.aero/events/2024/fpaw-2024-spring-meeting in your browser.

Over the last couple of FPAW meetings, we've introduced several new in-meeting (e.g., breakout sessions at AWC in the Spring 2023 FPAW Meeting, FIT class participation at the Fall 2023 FPAW Meeting) and post-meeting (e.g., FPAW dinner) FPAW activities. The Spring 2024 FPAW Meeting will be no exception. We hope you'll be able to join us at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX on WED, 5-1-24, for ballpark hotdogs and beer in plastic cups as we watch the 2023 World Series Champion Texas Rangers clash with the (hometown team for many of you) Washington Nationals. It should be a blast!

So, head over to the FPAW web site here, register for the Spring 2024 FPAW Meeting, and follow the instructions on the very bottom of the page to get signed up for our ballpark outing.

We hope to see you in Dallas in two months!!

Matt Fronzak and Matthias Steiner
FPAW Co-Chairs 

Good day all.

It's taken a month of Sundays (actually, three), but we've finished our Fall 2023 FPAW Meeting Summary and loaded it and all the presentations we have on the FPAW web site here. Take a peek at that page when you get a chance.

In the next few days, we'll also have updated information about the Spring 2024 FPAW Meeting on the web site. In the meantime, check out the teasers we've listed here.

Matt Fronzak and Matthias Steiner
FPAW Co-Chairs 

Good day, aviation weather users.

The FAA Aviation Weather Division (AWD) is leading an effort to assess convective weather products. A key part of that assessment will leverage user feedback. AWD intends to use that feedback as part of an effort to reduce conflicting convective weather information and exploit higher resolution convective weather information.

To gather user feedback, a Convective Weather Product Use survey has been created. The FAA Aviation Weather Demonstration and Evaluation (AWDE) Services team has been tasked to analyze the surveys and report it out as group data. No personal identifying information will be collected or reported. To ensure your anonymity, please do not supply any identifying information such as name or email address.

Specific objectives for this survey are to:

1. Identify convective weather products used by the aviation weather community.
2. Determine overall usability of the convective weather products.
3. Determine overall preference of the convective weather products.
4. Identify optimal convective weather products to support decision-making.
5. Identify weather products that do not support the decision-making processes.

The link to the survey is here: Weather Information Modernization and Transition (WIMAT) Convective Weather Survey (surveymonkey.com)

The survey is open until February 16, 2024. 

All FPAW members who use convective weather products (and we think that probably means all of you) are urged to provide input on their convective weather product use experiences via this survey.

Thank you in advance for your participation!

Matt Fronzak and Matthias Steiner
FPAW Co-Chairs 

Good evening, all.

Matthias and I hope you all had the most wonderful holidays ever, and were able to spend lots of quality time with your family and friends, near and far.

On Monday, December 19, 2023, you all received an FPAW email message requesting comments on a proposed FPAW ADS-B Wx White Paper. The deadline for those comments is this coming Friday, January 5, 2024 at 1700E, less than 48 hours from now.

As of this writing, we have received nine (9) responses via the web-based FPAW ADS-B Wx White Paper Comments form, and two (2) comments via the contact@fpaw.aero email address. While this is a non-zero number of responses (GOOD!), it represents less than 3% of the number of targeted email FPAW addressees (NOT SO GOOD!).

I hope that you will find the time in the next 48 hours to read over the very short white paper and weigh in on it if you haven't done so already, using either of the methods described above, both of which are hyperlinked. It is our hope and intention to discuss the white paper, and your comments, at the next meeting of the FPAW Steering Committee (SC), which will take place on Monday, January 8, 2024.

All the best,

Matt Fronzak and Matthias Steiner
FPAW Co-Chairs