4. AGENCY ROLES AND MISSIONS

Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA is the U.S. government agency charged with overall responsibility for the safe conduct of aviation in U.S. airspace. FAA is responsible for changing Federal Aviation Regulations as necessary, setting requirements and standards and executing procedures for aviation weather products and services, training pilots and providers, and certifying aircraft operators. FAA also engages in aviation weather-specific research, development, and acquisition activities. FAA also maintains the ATC system, with its broad network for communication between controllers and pilots.

National Weather Service. In support of the FAA's mission to ensure a safe and efficient National Air Space System, the NWS provides warnings, forecasts, and meteorological advice and consultation through all phases of flight. The NWS views this support as part of its overall mission to protect lives and property. It achieves this mission by using up-to-date technology and highly-trained personnel to enable data collection and timely, accurate forecasts of severe weather events.

Department of Defense. The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy provide aviation weather services to military pilots, air traffic controllers, and operational commanders. USAF provides support to the U.S. Army, while the U.S. Navy provides similar support to the U.S. Marine Corps. Interservice coordination is accomplished through the Navy/Air Force Cooperative Structure (NAVAF COOP). DoD aviation weather services generally mirror those of the NWS and FAA; however, the unique worldwide military mission of DoD results in a distinct aviation weather program, which includes the additional objective of optimizing the performance of military aircraft, their weapons, and their sensor systems. DoD and NWS share meteorological data and maintain complementary modeling, satellite data processing, and data distribution systems as security requirements permit. DoD and NWS increasingly cooperate in the planning, engineering development, and fielding of high-value aviation weather support equipment. The DoD collects weather reports worldwide and combines these with data available from military (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) and civilian meteorological satellites. Although DoD aviation weather research and development tends to target specific military requirements, many developmental programs clearly have application to NWS and FAA; cooperative efforts have been institutionalized to maximize the leverage of joint efforts.

National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB is an independent Federal investigative agency whose mission is to determine the "probable cause" of transportation accidents in all civil aviation incidents, as well as in major incidents in other modes of transportation. NTSB is responsible for investigating, making safety recommendations, and reporting the facts and circumstances of all U.S. civil aviation and certain public-use aircraft accidents. NTSB also conducts special studies and investigations on aviation safety problems, such as aircraft icing avoidance, Flight Service Stations weather briefings, and visual flight rules into Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC).

U.S. Department of Agriculture-Forest Service. The Forest Service is a major consumer of specialized and standard weather products in its role as the national leader in wildfire suppression and in response to other natural disasters as required. Forest Service does not perform aviation weather research per se, but does conduct studies into related areas; these include air quality, wildfire prediction, smoke and smoke plume prediction, fire weather research, fire danger rating systems, and fire behavior.

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research. OFCM's mission is to promote coordination and cooperation among Federal agencies having weather-related activities so that the most effective and best possible weather information and user services are provided for the funds made available by the U.S. government. OFCM objectively assesses the adequacy of the total Federal meteorology program, as well as reviews current and proposed programs to identify opportunities for improved efficiency, reliability, and cost avoidance through coordinated actions and integrated programs. OFCM also documents agency programs and activities in a series of national plans, standards, and handbooks. OFCM provides analyses, summaries, and evaluations that provide a factual basis for the executive and legislative branches to make appropriate decisions related to the allocation of funds.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA's mission is to pursue, jointly with industry, those difficult-to-achieve, high technical risk projects which industry cannot pursue alone because of a lack of facilities, technical expertise, and research capital. This research benefits large segments of U.S. industry and significantly advances the state of the art.

NASA's contribution to real-time weather-related aircraft research is to develop aircraft system and subsystem prototypes and demonstrate them in an appropriate environment. Translation of the prototype into a production model is left to industry.

NASA's contribution to long-term weather-related aircraft research is to use satellites or aircraft as platforms to measure various atmospheric parameters such as water vapor, temperature, rainfall, and nitrous oxide. This data is used in developing long-term atmospheric models and in determining the effect of subsonic and supersonic aircraft emissions on the atmosphere. Improvements in atmospheric modeling gradually leads to better weather prediction ability.

Chapter 3: Strategic Elements
Chapter 5: Implementation of the Plan
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