News

Good evening, folks.

We are passing this along on behalf of the International Society for Atmospheric Research using Remotely piloted Aircraft (ISARRA) and their upcoming meeting.

Matt Fronzak and Nathan Polderman
FPAW Co-Chairs 

Good morning, my friends.

Another FPAW meeting is in the books. We had three days of OUTSTANDING information exchanges in FPAW's typical relaxed yet highly informative atmosphere (pardon the pun). Our Oklahoma State University (OSU) Oklahoma Aerospace Institute for Research and Education (OAIRE) hosts went all out, with pre- and post-meeting tours, Trinity coffee (that's a new, upcoming brand) and breakfast sweets each morning, lunch food trucks on two days and box lunches on the third. A completely new A/V capability was used for the meeting, and after working through some hiccups on Day 1, I think our hosts found the right combination of settings and physical location to allow us to successfully conduct the meeting in a room set up for 60-70 people without using any handheld or lapel mics.

Bottom line - OSU OAIRE knocked it out of the park! And that's made my life a little more, hmmm, interesting.

Why, you ask?

Because on October 27-29, the Fall 2026 FPAW Meeting will take place in McLean, VA on the campus of The MITRE Corporation, my employer.

The bar's been raised, yet again, and the pressure's on!

I hope you all had (or have) safe travels home. The meeting web page will be updated with presentations and pictures in the coming days, and I'll let you know when new material has been posted.

Matt Fronzak
FPAW Co-Chairman

Good Sunday afternoon to you all.

We are about 40 hours away from what is shaping up to be one of the best FPAW meetings we've had, at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK. And, like any operational forecaster knows, you need to take credit when a three-day springtime event in Oklahoma happens to coincide with pretty good weather (sorry, storm chasers). So, Nathan and I will take credit!
 

(Graphic and forecast courtesy of Weather Underground)

Emails will be sent out later today to all registrants. They will include the near-final detailed agendas for each day, along with a QR code and URL to receive WINGS credits (for those of you who, ummm, wing?). The final agendas will be attached to the meeting invitations, updates of which will be sent out to all registrants on Monday, the day before the meeting.

Notice a common theme in the paragraph above? Registrants.

And what, pray tell, is one to do if one has not yet registered for this most outstanding of meetings? Simple. You can use the Contact tab on the top of the FPAW web page, and send us your first and last name, affiliation, citizenship, email address, attendance type (almost certainly Remote at this stage of the game) and whether or not you'd be willing to share your email with other like-minded FPAW meeting registrants. We'll take it from there as expeditiously as we can.

If for any reason the FPAW Contact method doesn't work for you, send the above information directly to me at mfronzak@mitre.org. Again, I can't guarantee how quickly I'll be able to get to things, but I'll do so just as fast as I can.

OK, off to the suitcase to get packed. See you in OK!

Matt Fronzak
FPAW Co-Chair

What's that, you ask, besides how old Matt is? (NOT!)

That is the number of folks who signed up for the Spring 2026 FPAW Meeting before the online registration closed. Wow! Just wow!!

Now, you may be thinking "Well, crud, I had such good intentions to register for the meeting, but I had to do my taxes, and then the dog ate my returns, and my wife not only went into labor but our first child was born, and..."

No worries.

If you just click on the Contact tab at the top of the FPAW web page, and let us know that you'd like to register late for the meeting, and then list your first and last name, affiliation, citizenship, email address, attendance type (remote or in person) and whether or not you'd be willing to share your email with other like-minded FPAW Meeting registrants, we'll take it from there. No guarantees on timing, but we'll get it done.

To those who are planning to be in Stillwater next week - see you there!

Matt Fronzak
FPAW Co-Chair

Hello, aviation weather enthusiasts.

A few short days ago, I thought we'd be lucky to reach 200 registrants for next week's Spring 2026 FPAW Meeting. That forecast, like so many other of my prognostications, has gone down in flames.

As of this instant (1515E on Friday, 2-17-26), we have 234 folks registered for the meeting. And I could not be happier to report that MANY of them are students, either from our host Oklahoma State University, the nearby University of Oklahoma, or faraway schools Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the Florida Institute of Technology. I'm sensing that there might be a bit of an informal competition going on right now for biggest student contingent. If that is, indeed, the case, I think it fair for me to suggest that the Oklahoma State University students need to (pardon the pun) get on their horses, because an out-of-state university appears to be well out in front.

I'd also like to announce that the agenda, including pre- and post-meeting activities, has been finalized, and is accurately (I hope) reflected on the Spring 2026 FPAW Meeting webpage. Spoiler alert - if you're planning to attend the meeting in person, you'll absolutely, positively want to sign up for the new Day 1 post-meeting tour of the OAIRE Excelsior Lab, which you can do via the sign-up sheet located IN THE MEETING ROOM. Don't believe me? Check out the linked video in the agenda.

In addition to the agenda, a very comprehensive update to the Maps and Tricks document (thank you, Trinity Patton!) was just uploaded to that same site, as was a nearly complete Biographies of the Presenters, Panelists and Speakers document. Regarding the latter, there are some true aviation weather heavy hitters in the lineup (excluding yours truly, of course).

Let me end by reminding everyone that the easy, online registration form will be closing in the very near future. After it does, meeting invitations, one for each day, including detailed agendas and a means of requesting WINGS credits, will be pushed out to the emails of all registrants. If you want to get into the meeting after that, you'll have to use the Contact link on the FPAW web to request late registration, and hope that the relevant person (me) is in a position to get you signed up in a timely manner.

So, my strong suggestion is to get signed up now, before throwing your Spring 2026 FPAW Meeting attendance fate into my hands.

See you next week!

Matt Fronzak
FPAW Co-Chair

Good evening, aviation weather afficionados.

What's that sound, you ask? It's the clock, running out of time to register for the Spring 2026 FPAW Meeting!

I am reminded of something my colleague and good friend Bill Bauman once said, namely that "If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done." Bill doesn't claim to be the originator, but still, I think it's a pretty cool and appropriate statement, one certainly applicable to our upcoming meeting. Why? Because in less than 48 hours, registration for the Spring 2026 FPAW Meeting will close!

Now, you definitely won't want to miss this meeting, for a couple of reasons.

1. All three of the main sessions will feature 2-way conversations (not lectures) on topics guaranteed to be at times professorial (can't help it, being at an institution of higher learning), profound (just look at the presenters and panelists!) and provocative (expect nothing less from FPAW).
2. WINGS! Yes, attendance at and (very important) active participation in many or most of the sessions in this and every subsequent FPAW meeting will result in WINGS credits being able to be claimed by airmen enrolled in this very important FAA-sponsored training program.

And the key to participation is...

REGISTER, right here. Do it now, right before you file your Federal taxes. After all, and unlike those taxes, IT'S FREE!

Matt Fronzak
FPAW Co-Chair

Good evening, fellow aviation weather wizards.

The Spring 2026 FPAW Meeting is just over a week away. It will be held on the campus of the Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK from Tuesday, April 21st through Thursday, April 23rd. The session co-leads are finalizing their programs, and getting their presenters and panelists primed to deliver nothing but first class material and engage in relevant and stimulating discussions with you, the FPAW membership.

But, in order to partake, you need to register. And we are compelled to point out that registration for the meeting closes this coming Friday, 4-17-26, and that the MS Outlook calendar invitations to the meeting will be sent out to registrants shortly thereafter.

So, don't wait. Don't hesitate. Register now!

Oh, and here's a couple teasers:

1. We expect to be pushing out revised, simplified meeting location information in the next day or two, so pay attention to these FPAW Newsletters and the Spring 2026 FPAW Meeting web page for the latest.
2. We continue to think that WINGS credits may be available for those who attend these meetings, either in person or remotely. Again, stay tuned to these FPAW Newsletters for the latest, greatest information.

Matt Fronzak and Nathan Polderman
FPAW Co-Chairs

Happy Friday evening, FPAW Fanatics.

The Spring 2026 FPAW Meeting is coming together nicely, with 127 attendees having eagerly registered for the meeting. There are at least 13 more presenters/panelists that will be signing up in the coming days, and I anticipate that our final count will be somewhere between 160-180 participants.

The leads have been sharpening their programs, engaging premiere presenters and panelists in each of their sessions, as reflected in the updated agenda on the meeting website. Our excellent Oklahoma State University hosts, Gus de Azevedo, Jamey Jacob and Trinity Patton, are finalizing their first-class meeting arrangements - it seems obvious to me that they're intent on raising the FPAW Meeting logistics bar to another level. 

Given the above, there's clearly only one big thing missing - YOU!

So, register for the meeting. Although we'd love for you to be there in person, you can always opt for remote participation. And, unlike almost every other industry conference out there, do I need to remind you that attending FPAW meetings, and becoming an FPAW member, are totally, completely FREE?

Join us. We look forward to seeing/hearing you.

Matt Fronzak
FPAW Co-Chair