New graphics enhancements have debuted on 1800WxBrief.com, designed to give pilots access to enhanced weather graphics that offer clearer and more comprehensive data to support flight planning and decision-making, according to FAA officials.
Recent upgrades to Leidos Flight Service weather products offer a more detailed presentation of critical weather data, including turbulence forecasts, icing conditions, convective outlooks, and more.
The FAA notes it has replaced static graphical forecasts for aviation (GFA) charts with GFAs on the interactive map. The GFAs have six distinct layer controls, along with complete legends, time and altitude sliders, and textual graphical overlays that include:
Ceiling & Visibility
Clouds
Precipitation
Winds
Turbulence
Icing
Additionally, the new weather products have been “thoroughly integrated” with the FAA’s briefing engine, according to agency officials, who note the relevant validity and forecast periods and timeframes were added to the top of the image.
The GFAs are structured similarly to the G-AIRMETs in the briefing and are displayed for the relevant portions of the flight during the expected time of travel.
There also have been new changes to the 1800WxBrief.com interactive map.
The layer controls tab on the interactive map is now sorted into three sub-menus or categories: Weather, Nav, and Local.
The Weather sub-menu focuses on weather tools, charts, and graphical depictions of weather phenomena. The Nav sub-menu displays airspace and special use airspace, while the Local sub-menu provides area information, local frequencies, topographical data, and more. The area knowledge information is a collection of data gathered from the experiences and insights of Flight Service Specialists, FAA officials noted.
A slider allows users to adjust the transparency of graphical overlays, making it easier to view multiple data layers simultaneously. Additionally, improvements to the interactive map search functionality now allow for exact match searches to be conducted and identified in the map view.
Future releases include additional interactive map layers to overlay NavAids, airports and heliports, airspace color coding to match sectional charts, and more.
FAA officials encourage pilots to provide feedback on the updates. Feedback can be submitted from the bottom of any 1800WxBrief.com page by selecting “Request Help or Submit Feedback.”
For more information: 1800WxBrief.com
