Photo By Maj. Elias Zani | Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Bob, a Coalition Aviation Advisory and Training Team...... read more read more
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Camp Taji is an Iraq airfield out of which Coalition forces often operate. Much of the success of this can be attributed to the cooperation between Iraqi and Coalition airfield managers.
Until recently, airfield managers didn’t have proper equipment to provide accurate and localized weather for Taji’s airfield. They also were often reliant on providing weather data from the nearest aerial port in Baghdad.
The issue is that Baghdad is nearly 20 miles away from Taji and on any given day the weather data could differ wildly between the two locations, resulting in an unusable report.
“It previously caused issues for Coalition aircraft coming in, because what Taji tower was reporting wasn’t entirely accurate,” explained Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Bob, a Coalition Aviation Advisory and Training Team senior air advisor. “With that information, Coalition missions either had to divert or return back to their origin.”
After identifying the obstacles and discussing them with the Iraqi airfield managers, Bob was able to procure an automated weather observation system, which is now able to provide up-to-date, localized weather data to Taji’s control tower.
“With this equipment, Taji airfield managers can now inform all the aircraft and aircrew using our airfield on the latest meteorological data of this location,” Bob stated.
With all of this data now being local to Taji, airfield managers will more effectively be able to support the Coalition’s enduring defeat of ISIS mission.
“Having this AWOS at Taji will allow the Coalition as well as our Iraqi partners to have live, up-to-date meteorological information such as cloud base and visibility,” said Bob. “Now these values are totally and entirely accurate rather than a guesstimate, which means less diverts for aircraft.”
The localized weather data is only a piece of the puzzle, though.
While Bob was working alongside his Iraqi counterparts, he realized they didn’t have flight plates, which are used by a pilot upon flight approach when visibility is low, so the aviator could visually identify the airfield.
“Having flight plates allows Coalition aircraft to fly instrument recovery into Taji,” Bob explained. “Taji has no instrument aids: it’s a visual-only airfield. With these, pilots can fly an instrument approach, which is pilot interpreted, so in theory they could fly the approach and get below the clouds to get a visual of the airfield.”
When flying an instrument recovery, pilots can make a decision much closer to landing on whether or not they need to divert or if they can land based on visibility at lower altitudes.
Bob explained that weather around an airfield can vary due to the mere presence of the airfield.
“Potentially the visibility can be reduced because the concrete and tarmac temperature is slightly different, so if the runway is wet an airfield could see additional mist or fog not present elsewhere,” said Bob.
With all of these tools at their disposal, Iraqi airfield managers at Taji can provide more accurate data to pilots, which in turn will allow both Coalition and Iraqi aircraft more access to the essential airfield.
“The fact that we were able to get the AWOS working for the tower is an absolute win,” Bob said. “I would like to see the Iraqis I worked with continue to improve their control of this airfield by using this equipment and providing accurate in-flight information to crews and one day meet international standards.”
| Date Taken: | 11.30.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 01.29.2019 04:00 |
| Story ID: | 306806 |
| Location: | IQ |
| Web Views: | 120 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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