ARW

120-Day Re-Assessment Plan

Site Visits

Background

A team visited the Eastern West Virginia Regional/Shepherd Field (MRB), located in Martinsburg, WV, on April 30, 1997. MRB has a Non-Federal operated air traffic control tower, is designated as a Service Level D airport with FAA contract weather observers, and an ASOS that is not yet commissioned. The contract for weather observers is scheduled to be terminated upon commissioning of the ASOS. There was moderate community concern when the Flight Service Station located at the airport was closed in September, 1995.

Data from the FAA Airport Master Record as of February 25, 1997 indicates that a total of 76 aircraft are based at the Martinsburg airport. Operations for the 12 months ending February 25, 1997 totaled 52,750; including 250 air taxi, 12,500 general aviation local, 15,000 general aviation transit, and 25,000 military.

The traffic at MRB is mainly general aviation and military. Midwest Air Traffic Control, Inc operates the Non-Federal control tower. Pilot pre-flight weather briefings and Notices to Airmen issuance services are provided by the Automated Flight Service Station at Elkins, and air-to-ground/ground-to-ground communications are available via a remote communication outlet located on the airport at MRB. Enroute Flight Advisory Service is also available through Washington Enroute Flight Advisory Service, with both high and low altitude frequencies.

Martinsburg is located in a fairly mountainous area of the Appalachian mountain chain. Throughout this area, fog may develop along the valleys soon after sunset and become denser as darkness falls. Overflights have no difficulty with valley fog since it is usually quite shallow, seldom rising above the ridges. Flights’ emanating or terminating at Martinsburg frequently experience delays until the fog dissipates in the late morning. Other restrictions to visibility locally are haze and smoke. When low-level winds exceed 10-15 knots, widespread reports of turbulence are prevalent over the Appalachians. Thunderstorms building in the afternoons through evening are common during the summer months, averaging 30 to 40 occurrences per year at Martinsburg. These storms can produce a startling variation of weather conditions across only a few miles with heavy rain, hail, and strong winds. Storms usually dissipate quite rapidly after sunset.

The FAA Regional Office has no record of significant complaints received from MRB, however, there was congressional correspondence addressing the loss of human observers at West Virginia sites.

Participants

Airport manager, Non-Federal Control Tower Air Traffic Manager (Midwest ATC Services, Inc.), WV Air National Guard Liaison Officer, local airport tenants, two fixed base operators, Aero Flow Graphics, Inc. representative, professional pilots (fixed base operators), two contract weather observers, and FAA/NWS team.

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.

According to the airport manager -

"MRB has approximately 3,000 operations per month."

The users and the airport personnel attending the meeting stated -

"They had limited knowledge of the capabilities of the ASOS and were not aware of the existence or the functionality of the ground-to-air transmitter."

The Aero Flow Graphics representative commented that -

"The ASOS does not report precipitation when snowing, reports snow when NO precipitation is falling, does not give off-airport remarks (i.e., clouds on ridges, building cumulus clouds, sector visibility), or ceiling above 12,000 feet."

The contract weather observers complained that -

"The system frequently reports incorrect ceiling measurements and visibility values."

Another concern expressed was that -

"The ASOS responds slowly to rapidly changing weather conditions, both in improving conditions and reducing conditions."

Several pilots stated -

"The ASOS did represent weather at the approach end of the instrument runway where the ASOS is located."

The airport manager stated -

"MRB needs a way to transmit ASOS reports to users."

Additional comments on the ASOS were -

"The system should be more accurate and better maintained, even though it is in the test mode, and that a lack of maintenance appears to have contributed to a lack of trust in the system."

It was also noted that -

Information Provided

At the meeting, the team discussed the capabilities of the ASOS, explained the limitations of the ASOS sensors, and provided information on ranking criteria.

Issues Identified

The issues expressed at the Martinsburg meeting focused on the items provided by the human observer that were not being provided by the ASOS. These items included off-airport remarks on sky conditions, freezing precipitation detection, and thunderstorm data. Several attendees questioned the ability of the ASOS to report conditions accurately in rapidly changing conditions in a timely manner. A lack of understanding of the functionality/methodology used to report weather elements and the limitations of the ASOS system was evident. Questions on the extended "test" mode time period, software versions, sensor calibration, and the ability to maintain the system were raised. The termination of the contract weather observers and the previous closure of the Flight Service Station at Martinsburg were viewed as detrimental to the users of the airport and the general aviation pilot in general..

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