The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is formally asking the FAA and the National Weather Service (NWS) to take steps designed to improve the accuracy of automated weather observations by addressing equipment malfunctions in a more proactive manner. The requests come as the NTSB completes its investigations into the February 15, 2019, fatal crash of a Cirrus SR22 near Ely, Nevada, and the sinking of an amphibious passenger vessel on July 19, 2018, near Branson, Missouri. Seventeen of the 31 occupants aboard the WWII-era “Duck” being used as a tour platform died when it began taking on water in a storm.
According to the NTSB, the SR22 had diverted to Ely in part because the airport’s automated surface observing system (ASOS) was reporting nine miles of visibility in light snow at the time, even though ground witnesses later reported heavy snow with visibility ¼ to ½ mile at the time. According to the NTSB’s evaluation of weather conditions at the time of the accident, “ASOS visibility reporting at [Ely] had, at times under various weather conditions, not been accurate for weeks before the accident and had been a concern for pilots operating at the airport.”
