Northwest Mountain Region
Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS)
Appropriate Role Government and Private Sector in
ADDS Weather Information Dissemination
March 3, 2000I. History
The FAA has funded the Aviation Weather Research (AWR) program for many years to develop improved aviation weather forecast products. By the mid-1990s, this research had progressed to the point where gridded weather data, including aviation impact variables (AIVs, such as clouds, convection, icing conditions, and turbulence) was sufficiently reliable to be used as another source of weather data by aviation users. The FAA entered into Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRDAs) with several weather vendors, including WSI, Kavouras, Jeppessen, and Harris, to make this information available to users.
By 1997, the FAA had developed the first version of the Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS), which provided the gridded data and AIVs, and made this available to the vendors. The idea was that the vendors would receive this data for free, and add value in the form of a user interface and graphics appropriate for aviation users - dispatchers and pilots - and distribute these products for a fee to the users.
Unfortunately, the vendors did not pursue this activity. The two primary reasons for this lack of interest were: lack of an FAA requirement for users to purchase these products; and difficulty in providing the products over the current infrastructure of the vendors.
Subsequently, with the advent of the Internet and Java based applications, the FAA determined that the cost for creating ADDS products that are appropriate for users and distributing them directly to a wide user audience was practical. In 1999, FAA created a different version of ADDS, called "User-Friendly ADDS", and made it available on the Internet to users. This service includes both traditional observations and forecasts, and well as the new forecast graphics, which are provided on an experimental basis. The public response to this service has been very positive.
In 1997 the FAA and NASA adopted a goal of reducing fatal civil aviation accidents by 80% over 10 years. In early 1998, the FAA initiated the Safer Skies Focused Safety Agenda to accomplish this purpose, and NASA initiated the Aviation Safety Program. The Safer Skies program has efforts under way to support this goal: a Commercial Aviation Turbulence program, and a General Aviation Weather program (including IMC conditions, convection, and icing in addition to turbulence). Both of these programs would benefit from advanced weather forecasts of the type provided by ADDS. The Safer Skies General Aviation Weather program has identified the production and distribution of these new graphical forecast products as its top priority recommendation.
II. Appropriate Government and Private Sector Role in Weather Dissemination
In defining the appropriate role of government in any activity that could be carried out by the private sector, there are two primary considerations:
- Is the government role in forecast production and distribution necessary to accomplish its governmental mission?
- Would the government role unfairly compete with the free market and private sector providers?
The following analysis of these factors indicates that it is appropriate for ADDS to continue to be provided by the government.
A. Necessity to Accomplish Governmental Mission
To accomplish the purpose of the AWR program to produce new weather products, it is necessary to have user feedback to the FAA on the efficacy of the experimental products that have been produced. It is crucial that the skill level of the new forecast and diagnostic products be determined through user reports. It is also important to determine the types of presentations to users that are most effective in communicating the location and severity of weather hazard areas along their route of flight, which again requires direct user feedback.
In addition, issues such as the availability of data sets for long-term use and the use of the Internet for disseminating weather information, must be resolved prior to making a system operational.
For these reasons, it is necessary to the accomplishment of the weather product development purpose of the AWR program to provide this data and products to users.
Beyond the weather product development purpose, however, is the more direct governmental purpose of reducing the aviation fatal accident rate. The dissemination of improved weather products, including by ADDS, has been identified as the top priority general aviation fatal accident cause intervention by the GA Safer Skies program. The provision of new weather hazard products at no charge over the Internet is a most effective method of stimulating GA usage of these products. This is particularly true for the segments of GA that are most cost-sensitive.
B. Interference with Free Market and Unfair Competition with Private Sector
Before providing User-Friendly ADDS directly to users, the FAA offered the data to the private sector for free, and the vendors did not choose to take advantage of it.
The free market does not currently provide the types of products offered by ADDS. Neither the types of products nor the flight-path viewer are found on any private sector weather service.
The FAA is, in effect, developing and proving this market for the private sector. Recent aviation publications have rated ADDS very high in comparison to private weather vendor information, thus indicating the efficacy of its presentations and their quality.
III. Conclusions
The provision of User-Friendly ADDS as an operational product by the FAA or NWS is appropriate because it is necessary to enhance safety and to accomplish the public purpose of the AWR program, and because it does not interfere with the free market or unfairly compete with private sector vendors.
Indeed, in the absence of ADDS, the FAA and NWS would be failing their public safety purpose by not enabling users to get any benefits from the significant expenditure of public funds in the AWR program.
If, in the future, private sector vendors decide to provide the same or better services than ADDS using AWR program products, the appropriateness of government provision of ADDS should be re-evaluated.
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