FAA seeks approval for system to report faulty airport weather data

The FAA is seeking Office of Management and Budget approval to collect reports from pilots and other users about airport automated weather systems that are out of service or feeding incorrect information. The request was published Tuesday in the Federal Register.

The reports would cover Automated Weather Observing Systems and Automated Surface Observing Systems. The new Surface Weather Status Dashboard would sit on the agency's existing Weather Cameras website, where pilots already find camera views, METARs, TAFs, PIREPs and other weather products.

Congress mandated the dashboard. Once a submitted problem is checked, the FAA intends to open a trouble ticket in its Remote Monitoring and Logging System so technicians at the FAA, NOAA or another responsible organisation can fix the issue. The agency said anyone may file a report through a public web form on the Aviation Weather Cameras site. After a ticket is created, the site is expected to show the service status of the affected stations within half an hour.

The FAA projects roughly 1,825 reports a year, each taking about a minute to complete. Members of the public have until Nov. 5 to comment on the information collection.

The move adds system-status reporting to a site that has been expanding its weather camera network, including new camera sites and Visual Weather Observation Systems that pair imagery with automated surface sensors.