Weather Hazards

Severe Thunderstorms

There is no shortage of weather phenomenon that affect the ability to safely operate an aircraft.  In fact, many of the systems employed in the airframe are specifically designed and built to allow for operation in adverse and extreme weather conditions.  Anti-icing systems, heating, cooling, radar, rain removal, navigational aids, and landing systems are all designed to help the aircraft and crew negotiate the different elements of weather.

Regardless of the amount of thoughtful design and flight planning, there are some weather events that should be avoided completely.  This is the reason that Severe Thunderstorms rank as the greatest weather risk to aviation operations.

There are three main factors that must be available for a thunderstorm to form:

Moisture – Thunderstorms are more likely when the surface dew point is greater than 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

Lifting – Something must be the initial push that causes air to rise.  This could be a frontal boundary, a low-pressure system, or low-level differential heating caused by the sun.

Instability – Is caused when air rises vertically.  This can happen when a less dense air parcel moves upward through air that is more dense.

The picture above shows a cold front advancing, which starts the lifting of warm and moist air over the top of the cold air mass plowing underneath.  This creates instability as the warm air rises vertically and condenses.

Thunderstorms can come in all shapes and sizes.  A single-cell thunderstorm or a small squall line might not be that concerning, but a supercell thunderstorm (pictured above) that is ten miles in diameter, reaches 50,000 feet AGL, and lasts for over an hour, is something that grabs a pilot’s attention.  During flight planning, pilots and aircrew should find a method to circumvent this severe weather or stay on the ground.

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References:

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). (2016). Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (PHAK). https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak/

Haby, J. (n.d.). Thunderstorm Ingredients. Weather.gov. https://www.weather.gov/source/zhu/ZHU_Training_Page/thunderstorm_stuff/Thunderstorms/thunderstorms.htm#top

Midwestern Regional Climate Center. (n.d.). Living with weather: Thunderstorms. https://mrcc.purdue.edu/living_wx/thunderstorms/index.html

Air Traffic Control Entities

Civilian ATC and Military ATC at Sea

There are many similarities between the Air Traffic Control that manages the Controlled Airspace for Civil Airports and the Air Traffic Control that manages the Airspace around a Navy Carrier.  Civil Aviation and Military Aviation both have functions that that provide for safe air operations including:

• Ground Control
• Tower Control
• Radar and Navigational Aids
• Runway / Landing Markings and Lights
• Automated Terminal Information Service

Many of the policies and procedures are very similar for Civil Airports and Navy Ships up until it is time to perform a landing.  Landing on the ship is the largest difference between Naval Aviation and Civil Aviation.  It takes a great deal of time and practice to land an aircraft on a moving runway or landing pad.

Typically the ships tower (or Primary Flight Control) functions as the ATC within five miles of the ship.  The Air Officer (Air Boss) and his assistant (Mini Boss) control and manage all movement of aircraft in and around the ship.  There are Sailors providing radar services, instrument approaches, and controlling the air space.  There are also LSOs (Landing Signal Officers) and LSEs (Landing Signal Enlisted) that assist the pilot in landing the aircraft on spot or to an arrested landing during their final approach.

Fixed Wing Aircraft – land with an arresting hook that catches a wire to stop the forward momentum with an arrested landing.

Rotary Wing Aircraft and VTOL Aircraft – land vertically on a spot with the assistance of an LSE or LSO to land in the correct location.

The Air Boss and Mini Boss maintain constant communication with the ship’s Captain to adjust the position of the ship to bring the relative wind off the nose of the boat to ensure aircraft are landing into the wind.  There is a benefit to being able to move the runway to suit the desired landing profile.

The aircraft and its crew must land in a very specific location to prevent damage to the ship or aircraft.  For helicopters, there are three foot squared boxes that the landing gear must be inside when landing on the ship.  The use of the LSE and the LSO is one of the main differences in final approach and landing; they are critical to meet the precise landing locations on a moving ship.

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References:

Allen, F. V. (2019, December 10). Meet the US Navy's new $13 billion aircraft carrier. CNET. https://www.cnet.com/pictures/meet-the-navys-new-13-billion-aircraft-carrier/

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). (2016). Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (PHAK). Retrieved https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak/

Navy. (n.d.). Air Traffic Controller. https://www.navy.com/careers/air-traffic-controller