They're OK, After All

It turns out that weather radios aren't the distraction the FAA once said they were. This week, the agency flip-flopped on its earlier ban on weather radios in air traffic control towers, and will allow controllers to monitor such devices for reports of approaching severe weather after all.

"We took a second look, and we determined the weather radios would not be a distraction," FAA spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said Thursday, reports the Orlando Sentinel. "We decided to allow them in at the request of the controllers. They've expressed concern that they would like that additional assurance."

Spitaliere stressed the FAA believes controllers already have adequate weather information available... but controllers who were caught in the tower at Daytona Beach International Airport last December might disagree.

As ANN reported, six controllers at DAB were caught unawares by an approaching tornado December 25, which passed within 150 yards of the tower, because weather radios were included in a blanket ban against all radios in work areas. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) alleged at the time controllers even guided a Comair regional jet into the path of the approaching storm, because they didn't know it was there.

Weather radar systems at DAB only show rain levels; they don't show wind shear, or tornadic activity.

"These are people whose offices are 250 or more feet off the ground surrounded by windows. If anyone should have a weather radio to warn them of a tornado, it's these people," said NATCA spokesman Doug Church, who called the reversal of the FAA's policy a significant victory for safety.

"While we do not allow radios in the operational areas because of the possibility of distraction while delivering a safety service, these weather radios are not typical radios," said FAA deputy administrator Bobby Sturgell. "These weather radios will provide an additional level of assurance for our controllers that they are receiving as much weather information as required to meet their personal needs."

But the radios aren't in the tower at DAB or anywhere else just yet. First, the agency must issue guidelines on which weather radios are permitted. Each facility will then have to purchase its own -- the FAA won't supply them.

NATCA's Daytona Beach representative, Kelly Raulerson, told the Sentinel she expects the radios managers at DAB purchased in January -- only to have to remove them days later -- to be approved, though she added the radios may be tested at other facilities first.

Hopefully, that'll be soon... as there are storms on the radar heading for Florida as we speak...

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.natca.org