Thunderstorms can cause major issues to aircraft movements and as a result, are a major concern for ATC operators. While ATC operators have access to weather-based radar technologies as well as current meteorological reports, the unstable nature of thunderstorms provide a challenging environment that presents a heavy impact on operations. Strong thunderstorms may include heavy rain, hail, strong winds and even “tornado-like” conditions however a common trait of such storms is the variance and unpredictability of winds during the storms. This includes severe downdrafts, windshear and microbursts.
As a result, all aircraft operations need to avoid thunderstorm activities for fear of structural damage and/or injuries to crew and passengers. ATC operators and pilots need to monitor weather conditions and also report on the development or presence of Cumulonimbus cloud (Cb) – the cloud type that initiates thunderstorm conditions.
If such conditions were reported to be in a specific area, then ATC operators will need to advise pilots and aircraft accordingly and possibly recommend a change in course or direction for each affected aircraft. This could also involve reducing available airspace due to isolating the storm activity from already planned approaches, departures and movements – and, also re-routing aircraft that were planned to originally fly through the affected sector(s).
From an operational perspective, thunderstorm activity (and the resulting changes to flight plans) may cause delays in airline schedules (due to aircraft being diverted from their original flight plans); increased workload/pressure on the ATC operators (re-routing aircraft, the subsequent extra communications and monitoring of storm activities); and, a decrease in situational awareness for both ATC and aircrew due to the extra workloads related to communicating and navigating the thunderstorm activity. Essentially, any form of thunderstorm activity has the potential to disrupt traffic and also potentially cause operational issues that have an impact on safety.
