An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Weather Flight watches over winter flying ops

  • Published
  • By Scott King
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  With the start of winter, the 92nd Operation Support Squadron Weather Flight scrutinizes inclement weather closely to advise and assist aircrew and other base agencies in safe aircraft operations.

During winter months, the base can experience all sorts of weather such as; freezing rain, snow, fog, freezing fog, ice and slush and the occasional blizzard, which can have a "snowball effect" across Air Mobility Command.

Say a KC-135 is scheduled to refuel a C-17 from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. on Wednesday. Take-off is scheduled for 9 a.m. and scheduled to return at 3 p.m. As the plane sits on the runway, a fog deck rolls onto the base reducing visibility and ceilings, as well as reducing runway visibility to 1000 feet on both ends. The crew needs at least 1600 feet on both ends to take off. To make matters worse the temperature is -01 Celsius and freezing fog is leaving a light coat of ice on the aircraft.
The aircraft will need to be de-iced prior to take-off. Dense fog is expected to last until 11:00 a.m. causing delay or cancellation of the mission. The C-17 crew can wait, cancel or attempt to get refueling support from another tanker base, thus affecting missions across AMC.

"We get a mix of everything here during the winter months," said Mr. Timothy Scheidt, 92nd OSW weather forecaster. "Accurate weather observing directly impacts flight safety. Our job is to ensure the automated weather observations are timely and correct. We keep aircrews informed while on the ground and airborne current and forecast weather."

Depending on the type of winter weather, the following actions and procedures may be implemented concerning flying and runway operations here.

For KC-135 aircraft operations, there is the possibility of mission delay or stoppages due to aircraft de-icing, pilots may not take off with snow or ice on the wings. In addition, during rapidly changing runway conditions, aircraft cannot takeoff with ½ inch or more of slush or water on the runway nor can they taxi, take-off or land with poor breaking action.

In some instances when visibility is degraded, aircraft may not land. Aircrew is alerted to weather conditions at or below runway approach minimums. Training missions may also be cancelled during bad weather.

In order to keep runway operations running smoothly, the runway, intersections and roads around the runway require de-icing and snowplowing so aircraft can be towed, takeoff and land. During blizzards, contract snowplows may be required to clear the runway and roads of continuous blowing and drifting of snow. In addition, reduced vehicle speed on the runway is implemented.

Planning is an integral part of the weather flights success.

"Bad weather directly impacts the mission when flights are scheduled during a bad weather event," Mr. Scheidt said. "We impact the mission most during the mission planning phase. For example: Heavy snow is expected 2 days out from 6 to 12 a.m. Planners can adjust mission flight times and avoid expected inclement weather."

Good communication is also very important during hazardous weather conditions.
"During times of inclement weather it is imperative that the weather flight and pilots constantly communicate with each other," said Senior Airman Craig Madara, 92nd OSW weather forecaster. "As everyone knows, weather is not an exact science and conditions can change unexpectedly during periods of bad weather. That is why we need to constantly communicate with each other."

Without the weather flight, the flying mission here would suffer throughout the winter months.

"I would say that I think the weather flight is extremely important to the overall flying mission, Airman Madara explained. "Aircrews, maintenance crews and anyone operating on the flightline need to be warned when inclement weather is expected. It is extremely important that the weather flight here is on top of developing weather conditions so that the overall mission runs smoothly."