The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aviation Weather Research Program (AWRP) is currently sponsoring the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to develop a forecasting and diagnosing icing product called Icing Product Alaska (IPA). IPA is intended to have the capability to display icing probability, severity, and supercooled large drop potential. This information is expected to improve safety by providing more available forecast data in Alaska for in-flight icing.
The Aviation Weather and Demonstration Evaluation (AWDE) Services at the FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ has been tasked to conduct a Suitability Assessment using general aviation, HEMS, Air Taxi, Air Ambulance, and Part 121 and Part 135 pilots located in the Alaska region, to assess the IPA product. The AWDE team is seeking volunteers to participate in the assessment to gain user feedback focusing on the usability, suitability, and effectiveness of the product for pre-flight and in-flight planning.
The AWDE Team will travel to Anchorage, Juneau and potentially other areas in the October – November 2017 timeframe to meet with Alaska pilots to showcase the new icing product and gain valuable user feedback towards improving future iterations of the product.