More Weather Data for Pilots

Pilots are correct: An automated weather station installed at Van Nuys Airport will never be as reliable as human eyes and experience when it comes to judging the safety of harsh conditions. But the system scheduled to go online this fall fills a major gap in efforts to more accurately provide pilots with up-to-the-minute weather information.

The $170,000 station is part of a national effort to modernize weather reporting systems. It can provide detailed information on cloud height, visibility, rain, temperature and wind speed and direction--all of which can be relayed to pilots through a computerized voice even when the Van Nuys tower is closed overnight.

The information can be critical because overnight weather reports on Van Nuys are provided by the tower at Burbank Airport and by radar controllers in San Diego who relay information from local pilots. Obviously, neither can make current observations on constantly changing local weather patterns. That lesson was made painfully apparent last November, when a cargo pilot crashed and died on a fog-shrouded runway.

Whether the system might have prevented the crash is unclear, and pilots are understandably concerned about its limitations. For instance, it cannot match a human observer for speed in rapidly changing conditions. Nor can the sensors detect troublesome clouds that may be brewing on the horizon. Recognizing those limits, the new system is a welcome addition to helping keep pilots at the nation’s busiest general aviation airport safe.