Analyzing the Effect of Precipitation on Aviation Operations

This discussion post examines the impact of precipitation on aviation operations, highlighting its effects on flight safety, carrying capacity, and overall efficiency. It defines precipitation, including its various forms like rain, snow, and sleet, and explains how heavy precipitation can lead to hazardous conditions such as reduced visibility, turbulence, and runway icing. The post references a real-world incident involving a Bombardier CRJ 1000 damaged due to ice and sleet, emphasizing the importance of adhering to runway threshold limits. It concludes by recommending that flight crews remain aware of these limits to ensure flight safety, referencing weather reports such as METAR and weekly reports for flight scheduling. Desklib offers students solved assignments and past papers related to aviation meteorology.

Effect of precipitation on Aviation
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Introduction
The aviation industry is ominously affected by weather patterns. Flight safety,
carrying capacity and efficiency are highly influenced by weather. Adverse weather conditions
can impact aviation sector negatively (Bedard, 2015). Weather conditions have an effect on
numerous, if not all, aerodrome operations. Such operations include fueling, baggage
management, aircraft maintenance, and cleaning and flight schedules. An airport’s operational
capacity can be sizably reduced by adverse weather conditions causing flight annulments, delays
and diversions.
Discussion
Weather is the atmospheric conditions and of a given geographic area and
changes on a daily or even hourly basis and has seven elements. Since weather aspects affect
aerodrome operations, it is imperative to monitor changes and effectively forecast weather
patterns. The aviation industry utilizes meteorology by conduction weather reports such as
METAR (metrological Aerodrome Report) conducted on an hourly. Aviation industry also
relies on weekly reports for flight scheduling. This week’s readings of the seven weather element
in Changi Airport Singapore were temperature 89 high and 77 low, wind 3 mph, visibility℉ ℉
6.0mi, clouds partially cloudy and precipitation 0.4 mm. Precipitation is the product of
condensation of water vapor which then falls due to gravitational pull. Its major forms are rain,
graupel, drizzle, hail, snow and sleet. Heavy precipitation leads to storms.
Blizzards and snow storms reduce visibility, cause turbulence and runway icing
causing problems during flights and landings. Presence of precipitate on a runway creates unsafe
conditions for a take-off or landing. According to Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore a

runway regarded as contaminated if it has ice, stagnant water or snow. Hydroplaning is a
phenomenon where a tire spins over a wet runway compressing water under it. This generates
water pressure on the surface of the tire. On reaching a critical speed the tire surface will
completely be separated from the runway by a water film. Hydroplaning results in loss or
decrease in piloting and braking controls. Different planes have different runway thresholds for
wet and dry runways (Plos & Jeřábek ,2014).
Bombardier CRJ 1000 that departed from Pamplona was seriously damaged
after it overran a taxi on the taxiway in Madrid while attempting to land. A subsequent report of
an investigation the incident investigation showed that there were excess amount of ice and sleet
than the set threshold at Pamplona Airport runway. The brakes unit were damaged by ice caused
it to burst and damaged the surrounding machine parts. The skid over the runway. The aircraft
was stopped by the impact with the taxi.
Conclusion
Precipitation products have a significant impact on flight safety and efficiency
and must be considered to mitigate risks involved.
Recommendation.
Flight crew should be aware and implement the provided thresholds limits to
ensure safety during flights.

References
Bedard, A. (2015). AVIATION METEOROLOGY | Aviation Weather Hazards. Encyclopedia of
Atmospheric Sciences, 166-176. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-382225-3.00075-x
Plos, V & Jeřábek, K. (2014). Reports about Occurrence of Events with Effect on Aviation
Safety. MAD - Magazine of Aviation Development, 2(10), 13.
doi:10.14311/mad.2014.10.04