The pilot reports (PIREPs) system — in which pilots submit timely reports of in-flight weather conditions that are relayed to others using the National Airspace System — is outdated, error-prone and incompatible with the many other tasks required of pilots and air traffic controllers, a new report says.
The report, issued in November by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) Office of Aerospace Medicine, suggested improving the system by combining old and new technologies to improve both the quality and quantity of reports.
“The current PIREP system is antiquated, prone to errors due to its outdated federated system’s architecture, incompatible with busy cockpits and air traffic control operations and has no resilience,” the report said. It cited the FAA Air Traffic Organization’s 2018 designation of the problem as a top-five safety issue a…
