NEW YORK CITY PILOTS AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE WEATHER ANSWERING SERVICE (PATWAS) TEST. VOLUME I

An improved Pilots Automatic Telephone Weather Answering Service (PATWAS) was subjected to a year-long test in the New York City metropolitan area. The improvements consisted primarily of the following: (1) (1) user access to three route-oriented briefings, (2) an increase in the number of access lines to PATWAS, (3) more frequent updating of information, (4) the addition of special early morning recordings, (5) capability to request meteorological and aeronautical information from the Weather Message Switching Center for incorporation into the PATWAS message, (6) reduction in the time required for updating, (7) addition of more meteorological and aeronautical information to the PATWAS message, (8) new and more efficient magnetic tape equipment, (9) installation of an acoustic enclosure for PATWAS tape recording, and (10) more efficient organization of the message format. The purpose of the experiment was to test and evaluate the new PATWAS products, schedules, user acceptance, and the effects on the telephone briefing workload at the flight service station (FSS). In addition, the test permitted the gathering of technical performance data which could serve as the basis for a new, consolidated, national system for the mass dissemination of weather information. It is concluded that the improved PATWAS disseminates more weather information, reduces FAA/NWS telephone briefer workloads, is preferred over the basic PATWAS, and is acceptable to the general aviation public.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • See also Volume 2, AD-A047 248.
• Corporate Authors:

  National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center

  Federal Aviation Administration
  Atlantic City, NJ  United States  08405
• Authors:
  • Staiano, F
  • Shochet, E
• Publication Date: 1977-10

Media Info

• Pagination: 124 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Acceptance; Air pilots; Air traffic; Aviation safety; Civil aviation; Flight paths; General aviation; Information management; Information, data, and knowledge; Meteorological phenomena; Needs assessment; Physical distribution; Questionnaires; Routing; Surveys; Telephone; Weather forecasting
• Uncontrolled Terms: Acceptability; Access time; User needs
• Old TRIS Terms: Briefing; Meteorological data; Weather communication; Weather communications
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Data and Information Technology; Freight Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00169180
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: FAA-RD-77-80-Vol1 Final Rpt., FAA-NA-77-26
• Files: NTIS, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jan 30 1978 12:00AM