THE FAA AWRP turbulence PDT

Commercial and general aviation aircraft continue to encounter unexpected turbulence that requires immediate changes to flight paths or is hazardous to the aircraft and passengers. This is due in part to the fact that current aviation-scale turbulence observations are inadequate and forecasts are not accurate enough to predict the location, time and intensity of turbulence. The FAA AWRP Turbulence Product Development Team (TPDT) addresses the turbulence under-measurement problem by researching, developing, and implementing new technologies for routine observations of turbulence (in situ and remote). It also researches and develops turbulence forecasting techniques that are aimed at providing operational forecasts of turbulence for the aviation community. This paper describes these three major work areas (in situ measurements, remote detection, and turbulence forecasting) for the Turbulence PDT.