FAA will keep meteorologists at key traffic centers
The Federal Aviation Administration has announced it is continuing its relationship with National Weather Service meteorologists at its air traffic control centers to assist with weather-related decision-making.
As the two agencies renegotiated their contract, the FAA said on Wednesday it will not terminate its over 40-year-old partnership with the NWS. A recent press release by the National Weather Service Employees Organization had said its meteorologists at each of the 21 Air Route Traffic Control Centers were to be replaced by automated software and cited potential public safety concerns.
"The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Weather Service will continue our long-standing partnership to provide weather services to ensure the safety of the National Airspace System," an FAA spokesperson told Paste BN in a statement.
Through computer models, radar and satellite data, these meteorologists currently provide daily briefings and real-time advising on quickly evolving weather events to help air traffic control make judgement calls on routes.
In the early 1980s, Congress authorized the FAA to establish on-site meteorologist positions following a 1977 Southern Airways crash in New Hope, Georgia after the FAA was unable to share weather information to flight crews in time.
This story has been updated with new information.