Introducing Graphical Forecasts for Aviation

In the summer of 2014 the FAA published in the Federal Register its intent to do away with the Area Forecast (FA) and replace it with digital and graphical alternatives. The agency wrote that the FA was a broad forecast of limited value and that existing, better, alternatives existed.

jmiller

Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 12:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

The Experimental Graphical Forecast for Aviation (GFA) is the FAA's new digital and graphical replacement for the traditional text-based Area Forecast (FA), consolidating various aviation weather observations and forecasts into a customizable, scalable map.
The GFA offers crucial information for instrument pilots, especially through its novel Clouds and Ceiling/Visibility overlays, which aid in determining conditions at airports without TAFs and assessing alternate requirements, while also displaying hazardous weather like SIGMETs and AIRMETs.
Despite its advantages, the GFA is purely computer-model generated (lacking a meteorologist's interpretive input), can show inconsistencies between different forecast products, and has some operational "clunkiness."

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In the summer of 2014 the FAA published in the Federal Register its intent to do away with the Area Forecast (FA) and replace it with digital and graphical alternatives. The agency wrote that the FA was a “broad forecast of limited value” and that better alternatives existed. We wrote about the demise of the forecast in “FA Swan Song” in our July, 2015 issue.

This January the National Weather Service released an Experimental Graphical Forecast for Aviation (GFA), which the Service says is a graphical replacement of the text FA. Is it? Does it contain information pilot’s need? Can you determine if an alternate is required or an airport qualifies? Let’s find out.