When Santa’s sleigh was making its way through area skies Wednesday night, the man in the red
suit would have had to rely only on the reindeer with the red nose and
another airport’s weather reporting system as a cold front quickly moved
through because the Federal Aviation Administration’s automated
weather-observing system at the Washington County Airport was
inoperable.
Scott Gray, executive director of the airport, sent
out a notification Tuesday saying, “The FAA is has been working on
several issues with the AWOS equipment over the last couple of weeks.
Unfortunately, the system is currently (out) of service due to a part
failure. There is no estimated time frame at this time.”
William
McGowen, executive director of the Washington County Redevelopment
Authority, which oversees the airport, said Friday, “It’s not a big
deal. We want to upgrade to have a little more capability. Not all small
airports have AWOS. We’re someplace in the middle. We don’t have all
the bells and whistles, but we have most of them. An airport of our size
is going to have some sort of weather reporting. It’s another piece of
information that you want to have when you’re flight-planning.
“I
want to know what the weather is, what the wind speed and direction is
or the depth of the cloud deck. It’s a good safety feature we’ve come to
really like.”
The phone number of Washington County Airport’s
AWOS, 724-228-3529, is normally one that pilots call before driving to
the airport and before takeoff, for example. Pilots also phone the AWOS
before landing. Those who call now will hear nothing more than a ringing
telephone.
Automated sensors now gather weather data that, at
one time, was available only at large airports with staff who would
release balloons equipped with transmitters.
Information is
available from Arnold Palmer Airport in Latrobe, Westmoreland County;
Wheeling-Ohio County Airport in West Virginia; Pittsburgh International
Airport; and the Allegheny County Airport.
“It becomes a big deal
for some corporate guys,” McGowen said, because corporate policies and
protocols can dictate that they must land only where they have
information on weather conditions. “Most people are going to come in
anyway because they have surrounding weather. Whenever there’s something
that’s not normal at the airfield, we tell pilots so they’re
well-informed.”
Source: http://www.observer-reporter.com
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