Weather can affect every stage of a flight. Rain, low cloud, strong winds and high temperatures can:
- reduce aircraft performance
- increase workload
- limit options.
Operators routinely conduct flights in environments where weather conditions can change rapidly, particularly across regional and remote areas.
Unlike technical defects or aircraft separation events, the ATSB has not noted weather within the occurrence data as one of the sector's leading occurrence categories.
Effective weather assessment and conservative operational decisions remain essential safety controls for Part 135 operators.
The discussion focused on four recurring challenges:
- wet season operations
- reduced aircraft performance
- limited weather services in regional and remote areas
- technology black spots affecting access to weather information.
These issues can increase complexity before and during flight, particularly where changing weather conditions:
- reduce the availability of reliable weather information
- limit the options available to flight crews.
Wet season operations introduce additional challenges. Heavy rainfall, flooding and reduced runway conditions may:
- affect aerodrome availability
- increase landing distances
- limit alternate options.
High temperatures can also reduce aircraft performance, particularly when operating from shorter runways or aerodromes at higher elevations.
Deteriorating weather may:
- increase pilot workload
- influence fuel and alternate planning
- reduce situational awareness
- affect communication with other aircraft or air traffic services.
Operators should therefore consider weather as a hazard that can increase exposure to other risks rather than as an isolated safety issue.
What you can do
Operators can reduce weather-related risk by incorporating effective weather risk management into normal planning and Safety Management System processes. Practical strategies include:
- ensuring flight crews obtain weather information from approved sources before every flight
- assessing forecast conditions for the entire route, including destination and alternate aerodromes
- considering seasonal weather patterns and local environmental conditions during planning
- incorporating aircraft performance considerations into planning when operating in high temperatures, strong winds or contaminated runway conditions
- establishing conservative operational criteria for deteriorating weather conditions
- ensuring flight crews understand the limitations of available weather information, particularly in remote areas
- developing contingency plans for the loss of communications or weather information during flight
- encouraging flight crews to reassess weather conditions throughout the flight and modify plans when required
- promoting decision-making that prioritises safety over schedule or commercial considerations
- capturing weather-related hazards and operational lessons through the operator's Safety Management System.
What we have done
We continue to support safe weather-related decision-making through education, guidance material and ongoing engagement with industry.
Current activities include:
- publishing guidance material supporting pre-flight planning and weather assessment
- promoting conservative decision-making through the Pilot Safety Hub and other safety education initiatives
- working collaboratively with the Bureau of Meteorology and industry to support access to aviation weather information
- monitoring occurrence reports to find weather-related trends and emerging safety issues
- incorporating weather-related risks into safety intelligence, surveillance planning and sector engagement activities.
We also continue to promote the importance of effective pre-flight planning, continuous weather assessment and sound aeronautical decision-making as fundamental defences against weather-related risk.