Weather Flight Keeps Aircrews Safe in the Skies Above the Desert

Published Nov. 22, 2017
By Master Sgt. Phil Speck
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar -- After staring at a grid of eight computer monitors displaying maps, models, wind speed, atmospheric profiles, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and wind direction, among many other weather data sources, a weather forecaster must develop briefings for aircrews to make sure they stay safe and out of Mother Nature’s harm.

This is one of many jobs of the 379th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron’s Base Weather Flight.

“Part of our primary mission is supporting the flying units. We make sure they have the weather information that they need to fly safely, accomplish their missions, and divert if necessary,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Lanell Craig, weather officer for the base weather flight.

The base weather flight is the official weather source for all of Al Udeid Air Base. The coalition forces, including the Qatar Emiri Air Force, use the flight’s information for all of their weather needs and mission planning.

The flight has three major functions: mission integration, airfield support, and staff integration.

The biggest function of the flight is mission integration, which includes mission execution forecasts and flight weather briefings. They brief transient aircrews coming through Al Udeid and they can talk to aircrews in the sky via radio or Internet Relay Chat, which is similar to text messaging.

“We have a lot of heavies and those aircraft are less sensitive to weather effects. However, some airframes may be impacted based on their mission. For example, air refuelers will need to plan around thunderstorms, while collection and reconnaissance missions, in some cases, will need to consider cloud coverage and thickness of those decks because it will impact the type of weapons and systems that they employ,” said Craig.

For leaflet drops, atmospheric wind profiles are important to factor into planning to ensure that the leaflets are not blown off course and end up on their intended populated area, rather than in the middle of the desert.

Another function of the weather flight is airfield support, in which Airmen are responsible for weather observing and resource protection. Typically surface weather observations are taken every hour, however, when there is significant weather such as dust or thunderstorms, observations are taken more often. This assures dissemination of the most accurate weather information to base agencies and supported units. The forecasters are trained observers who monitor and relay the weather conditions in real time.

The observation information is primarily gathered by a fixed sensor which is called an FMQ-19 Automatic Meteorological Station and augmented by the observers. The FMQ-19 has sensing equipment on both ends of the runway and it measures various weather phenomena such as ceilings, visibility, temperature, dew point, and winds. The weather information is collected by the sensor on the airfield and transmitted back to the weather flight for the forecasters to utilize.

The weather flight provides resource protection for the base as part of the airfield function. The flight collaborates with all base entities to determine requirements for advanced notification of impending weather and then designs the necessary weather watches, warnings, and advisories (WWAs) to protect the various assets.

The flight can then issue WWAs based on preset criteria and desired advance notification. If conditions meet any of those thresholds as the forecaster monitors the weather, a WWA will be issued to notify the supported units. The notification is disseminated to the command post, and then relayed to the rest of the base via computer alerts. The operators who receive notification will take that information and perform protective actions to secure their assets.

Lastly, the flight has a staff integration function. This function is designed to ensure that supported unit commanders, their staff and planning functions have the weather support that they need. At Al Udeid, the weather flight provides daily commander’s update briefs, where weather intelligence is concentrated for Operation Inherent Resolve and Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. They brief weather information for more than ten countries and for commonly utilized divert locations.

The flight also provides weather information during theater in-briefs for pilots transitioning into the area of responsibility. The brief is a hybrid of the basic weather flight functions and operations, such as mission execution forecast format and observing sensor limitations, as well as climatological brief. The brief discusses types of weather the pilots can expect in the area and helps set the pilots frame of mind in regard to meteorological phenomena in the AOR.

The weather flight has specialized equipment to use to prepare the most accurate forecasts. In addition to the FMQ-19, they have a portable TMQ-53 tactical sensor, which can be set up and operated by two people in a short amount of time. Most forward operating locations in the AOR are equipped with the tactical sensor, TMQ-53. Al Udeid, due to the longevity of the base and mission requirements, has the fixed FMQ-19.

The base also has Portable Doppler Radar that can reach out to about 50 miles, which is very similar to the doppler systems in the United States, but on a much smaller scale. This helps the flight detect thunderstorms that are moving in.

The flight also utilizes laser range finders, to help find visibility distance readings. Accurate visibility reporting is critical as it can determine if the pilots will be coming in for approach using instrument flight rules or visual flight rules. Also, if the flight’s FMQ-19 and TMQ-53 go down, they can utilize the Kestrel, which is a handheld sensor that can give wind speed, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and wind direction, among other weather forecasting tools.

“Right now, we have about 15 years of climatology data, which is enough to draw patterns that help predict the weather in the region and seasonal changes,” said Craig.

The region, including Qatar, is coming up on transition season. The weather conditions can quickly change, and one of the bigger problems in this area is fog. The fog will normally develop overnight for a couple hours and then burn off quickly with sunrise. Climatologically, in November, the base will probably see around 12 days of fog, and by December and January up to 18 and 20 days of fog respectively.

Al Udeid may see thunderstorms that are normally very short lived, but rain fall can cause the base to see flooding. The base may see some dust events and sandstorms starting in February, and ramping up through the spring timeframe.

No matter which way the winds blow, the weather flight will be there to predict and assess them to keep aircrews flying safely over the AOR.