Safety Recommendation
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau recommends that the Civil
Aviation Safety Authority in conjunction with the Bureau of
Meteorology and Airservices Australia develop a standard scale of
thunderstorm intensity for use within the aviation industry.
The following response dated 22 March 2003 was received from the
Civil Aviation Safety Authority:
Although the Authority acknowledges the intent of this
recommendation, the Authority believes that the Bureau of
Meteorology (BoM) is the agency currently responsible for the
standards of aviation meteorology. The lead in changing such
standards rests with the BoM but the Authority would be pleased to
cooperate in a project to develop a standards scale of describing
thunderstorm activity.
However, the Authority's view is that grading of thunderstorms
would further obfuscate the matter, as all thunderstorms are 'bad"
and should be avoided. Grading of thunderstorms merely provides
criteria to permit flight through some thunderstorms and mandatory
avoidance of others.
