The Australian Transport Safety Bureau recommends that the
Bureau of Meteorology in conjunction with the Civil Aviation Safety
Authority review the meteorology syllabus for initial and periodic
recurrent training of pilots and air traffic controllers to ensure
that the syllabus includes comprehensive information on convective
weather phenomena and its effects on aircraft performance.
The following response dated 13 April 2004 was received from the
Bureau of Meteorology:
The Bureau considers the level of user understanding of Bureau
forecasts and warnings, and of the meteorological phenomena to
which they refer, as critical to aircraft safety. The Bureau has
recently revised the Manual of Aviation Meteorology (the prescribed
textbook on meteorology) and it has been published under a
cooperative arrangement with Airservices Australia. In addition,
the Bureau of Meteorology Training Centre represents a valuable
resource to monitor training standards and to continue to develop
new training material for the aviation community.
Historically, pilots, or a member of the flight crew, would receive
a face to face briefing from Bureau personnel before each flight.
Each brief gave Bureau staff an opportunity to provide ongoing
training in meteorology and to reinforce existing knowledge. Since
that practice has ceased, aircrew may have little contact with
Bureau staff and the only meteorological training they receive is
during basic pilot training. The importance of interaction between
the aviation community and the impact of its loss should not be
underestimated when considering deficiencies in meteorological
understanding.
One of the drivers behind the current trial arrangement with
Qantas, whereby Bureau personnel are located in the Flight Dispatch
area, is the need for the Bureau to reconnect with the users of
meteorological services and to build mutual understanding. This is
very much a two way process. It will help the Bureau to understand
airline operational requirements and, on the airline side, to
assess the current level of understanding, to provide some ongoing
training and to identify where effort needs to be applied to
rectify deficiencies in meteorological knowledge
The situation with Air Traffic Controllers is more problematic
since it appears that only RAAF controllers have any training in
meteorology beyond an authorised observer course. Unlike civil
controllers RAAF trainee controllers receive 60 hours of
meteorological instruction from Bureau staff at the School of Air
Traffic Control at RAAF Base East Sale.
The Bureau will work with both Airservices and CASA to develop
strategies for ensuring that both pilots and controllers have an
acceptable level of meteorological training.
