National Convective Weather Forecast: airline dispatcher assessment

The National Convective Weather Forecast (NCWF) provides graphical information regarding the current and short-term forecast location of thunderstorm activity. Two previous versions of the NCWF have been assessed using forecasters at the Aviation Weather Center and airline dispatchers from two major and one regional airline, respectively. In 1999, an enhanced version of the NCWF was developed. In order to ascertain the value and performance of this updated NCWF, a third assessment was conducted involving airline dispatchers from Comair and Delta Airlines. The purpose of this third assessment was to assess the value, perceived benefit, and performance of the NCWF for airline dispatch use. Specific objectives included assessing the value of the NCWF in identifying and forecasting convective weather, identify benefit areas, assess graphical interfaces and characteristics, subjectively assess the performance and accuracy, and identify enhancements.