Ongoing Research Activities Supporting General Aviation Pilots and Weather Information Dynamics

Most weather-related accidents in General Aviation (GA) can be attributed to incorrect situation assessment and decision-making. The FAA’s Weather Technology in the Cockpit (WTIC) Program sponsors research to address these human factors challenges, which include introducing and evaluating new weather-related cockpit displays, mobile technologies, and applications by industry. In this session, a moderated panel will discuss ongoing WTIC-sponsored research projects being performed at different universities, aimed at understanding and addressing weather-related, GA issues. The projects relate to the (1) use of extended reality (XR) to enhance student pilot learning, (2) development of speech recognition technology to automate the pilot report (PIREP) submission process, and (3) assessment of pilot sensemaking and weather information usage in low altitude operations. The results of this collective work demonstrate ongoing and safety-focused research intended to support GA pilots through multiple stages of their flying experience.