Project-Aviation Hazards-Weather
Atmospheric hazards

The sensitivity of aircraft to the various meteorological hazards has various aspects:

  • physical sensitivity,
  • engineering sensitivity,
  • operational sensitivity and
  • economic sensitivity.
From a pilot perspective, physical sensitivity means the effect of the hazard on the aircraft if no action is taken. There are many actions that a pilot can take, however, without changing flightpath, for example they could switch on anti-icing – this is what is meant by engineering sensitivity. Changing the flightpath is the main example of operational sensitivity. All action carries with it an economic cost, as might taking no action (if there was damage to the aircraft) and there must be awareness of this in planning the project.

The meteorological phenomena of physical sensitivity are:

  • Wind shear/turbulence (Wake vortex and CAT)
  • Icing
  • Thunderstorms (including lightning)
  • Poor visibility (does not affect aerodynamics but does have an impact through operational/economic sensitivity)
  • Volcanic Ash (can seriously affect engine performance)
Note that thunderstorms in general contain all of these mechanisms except volcanic ash, so they are a serious hazard.

State-of the-art on weather functions give an overview as to how current systems support the crew.




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