The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is urging the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) to develop and provide aviation weather forecasters with formal training on forecasting low-level turbulence.
The recommendation comes in an NTSB report on the April 2017 crash of a Pilatus PC-12 near Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport in Amarillo, Texas. The air ambulance crashed shortly after takeoff, fatally injuring the pilot and crew.
Low-level turbulence may have been present over Amarillo below 8,000 feet on the night of the crash, NTSB said. The NWS had issued several weather advisories for areas near the accident location, but no airmen’s meteorological information advisories were active for turbulence below 10,000 feet, NTSB said.
“Although the cause of this accident is still under investigation and the role of low-level turbulence has not been specifically identified as a factor or cause, the safety risks associated with significant turbulence encounters are well known and can include serious injuries to passengers and crew,” NTSB said. “Therefore, it is important that issuance of turbulence-related weather products directed to pilots be consistent and that these products address the turbulence potential at all operating altitudes.”
The NTSB recommends the NWS revise its instruction to include guidance on meteorological information advisories regarding turbulence hazards when those advisories are active.