ARW
120-Day Re-Assessment Plan
Site Visits
2.3.13 Houlton International, Houlton, ME
Background
A team visited the Houlton International Airport (HUL) located in Houlton, ME on July 9, 1997. HUL is a non-towered, Service Level D airport and weather observations are provided by a FAA contract.
Instrument flight rules arrival and departure traffic for the airport is controlled by the Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center, located in Nashua, New Hampshire, on frequency 120.25. Pilot pre-flight weather briefings and Notices to Airman issuance services are provided by the Automated Flight Service Station located in Bangor, ME. Duplex communications are provided by Bangor Automated Flight Service Station through the HUL RCO on frequency 122.2.
Data from the FAA Airport Master Record as of September 8, 1995 indicates a total of 27 aircraft are based at the Houlton airport. Operations for the 12 months ending September 8, 1995 totaled 20,500 including 300 air taxi, 12,000 general aviation local, 7,500 general aviation transit, and 700 military.
The airport lies in a relatively flat area with several hills to the west and southwest. The ocean influence tends to moderate the seasons in the Houlton area. The summer temperatures average 70 degrees with August being the warmest month with an occasional high in the nineties. Wintertime lows can often drop below zero with the wind chill factor making it seem a lot colder. The average last frost is in mid-May with a first frost in late September giving a growing season of about 160 days.
Prevailing winds are out of the northwest bringing cool clear Canadian air into the area. In the summer, a Bermuda high can impact the northeast causing westerly or southerly winds to bring a lot of airborne industrial waste from mid-western and mid-Atlantic states. This causes haze to form, which becomes more dense with each passing day. These winds also bring high humidity and high temperatures in from the south causing some very uncomfortable conditions in the area. There are also the occasional famous downeast "nor’easters" which can bring heavy storms to Houlton. There are also infrequent hurricanes that have lost most of their strength before reaching Maine. These hurricanes usually track west of the Connecticut River valley to the St. Lawrence River valley causing little more than cloudiness and showers, but they can be more serious if they follow a coastal route.
Participants
Maine Department of Transportation representative, airport manager, staffer from Senator Olympia Snowe’s office, fixed based operator/supervisor of contract weather observer contract, Chairman of Houlton Airport Committee, flight instructor/weather observer, two weather observers, Postmaster of Houlton Post Office, and FAA/NWS team.
Synopsis of User Comments
This section of the report is a record of the comments received during the meetings, interviews and discussions that took place during the site visits. It is intended to present a summary of the input from the users on a particular subject. These comments may include technical inaccuracies and user perceptions that do not reflect actual conditions.
The NWS Weather Forecast Office is located in Grey, ME. NWS representatives indicated that there is only one technician to maintain 20 ASOSs . The technician’s maintenance area covers New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine. There is a backup technician for the regular technician when work is heavy or leave is taken. The NWS plans to transition to a distributed workforce, however, it has not been implemented in this area.
The representatives stated that the NWS Eastern Region currently has a staff of 89 electronic program personnel. They will soon be reduced by 11 to 78. Twelve of the remaining electronic program personnel will be dedicated to ASOS.
There is no cloud height measuring system at Houlton. One will be installed as soon as one becomes available.
The city manager/airport manager stated -
"There are two main issues with the ASOS system. First, the system gives false positives, meaning it makes mistakes the wrong way. It reports good weather conditions when the actual weather conditions are bad, and vice versa. Pilots may go elsewhere when the weather is good and come here when the weather is bad. This can create a safety hazard.
The second fundamental problem with the ASOS is that it does not report needed parameters. The system was not designed to provide weather parameters such as freezing precipitation, snow depth, blowing snow, thunderstorms, hail, or ice crystals."
The contract weather observer supervisor/fixed base operator manager said -
"A pilot attempted an approach when the ASOS reported that the weather was good. The weather conditions were actually bad."
A weather observer/pilot/flight instructor declared -
"The ASOS is located in an area where it reports the worse possible conditions. One end of the runway may meet minimums, while the other end may not."
A Houlton town councilman said -
"We are in the process of developing Houlton as a marketing center. The ASOS with human weather observers is needed for our marketing plan. The ASOS does not provide adequate weather by itself. We are a Customs port of entry. We have one-hour notifications customs service. We have air cargo service. The postal service requires the airport to service the county. The State authority (police) provides ‘search and rescue’ services from Houlton. The airport is utilized by Medivac services from both Canadian and local groups."
The contract weather observer supervisor/fixed base operator manager stated -
"The airport was designated international by Customs. There are two things that accommodate the international designation: 1) having an infrastructure in place and 2) providing creditable weather."
"One-third of all accident were weather related."
He asked -
"How were the ASOS standards derived? How much background was accomplished on developing the requirements? Were aviators contacted to provide input?"
The Houlton Postmaster stated -
"The airport is important. Distribution of mail service is highly dependent on the airport and good weather reports. The smooth flow of mail in Houlton requires weather to be provided by human observers. The ASOS reports good weather when its bad and bad weather when it’s good. In 1985, after the FSS (Flight Service Station) was closed, we lost an aircraft that was weather related."
The contract weather observer supervisor/fixed base operator manager stated that -
"The NWS technician is located in Grey, ME, and that’s a four and one-half hours away. The 36 hour response time is not acceptable."
The NWS regional maintenance specialist emphasized -
"The NWS maintenance concept is going to be revised to provide adequate service for the ASOS."
A weather observer/pilot/flight instructor pointed out that -
"ASOS has some good points, but the system has faults."
"With the loss of CWOs (contract weather observers) you will lose climatological data."
"The ASOS is better than nothing at small airports, but we would rather have an observer. If you never had an observer, stand-alone ASOS would be good."
"Hope your decision is not based on economics."
"Pilots need to talk to a person during adverse weather."
"Lose of CWOs would be an economic impact to the Houlton area."
"The system does not look out far enough; only at the runway touchdown point. The range is limited. Equal to or greater service promised after the close of the FSS (Flight Service Station) would not be provided."
An observer stated:
"We need the airport to bring in jobs."
"Was the system tested? I was told the system was never tested."
"Why was the system standardized nationally, rather than regionally? Conditions are different in Houlton, ME than in Texas."
Another observer stated that -
"There were 25 errors in the system already this morning. The system is slow to react. The system puts out erroneous data. I input more ‘specials’ than the ASOS. The problems need to be resolved before it’s commissioned."
Information Provided
The team explained Service Level Standards and provided information on the capabilities and the commissioning process of the ASOS.
Issues Identified
The major issues identified at Houlton were the loss of contract weather observer jobs and the economic impact on the community. Other issues were the inability of the system to respond to rapidly changing conditions, either improving or deteriorating, and the lack of sensors to report cloud height and coverage, thunderstorms, and freezing precipitation. The ASOS at Houlton was an incomplete system, without a cloud height sensor. The ASOS was still in the installation stage, no maintenance was being conducted yet erroneous data was being broadcast over the GTA and available via the telephone.