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Weather Cam
Tue Jan 25, 2005
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook. Flying is always weather dependent.
Pilots in Alaska travel through high mountain passes to remote village airstrips. As
Amy Mayer reports, the Federal Aviation Administration has set up an extra source of
weather information for bush pilots.
It's yet another example of how the Internet is permeating society: web cams on
airstrips. Earl Valley is assistant air traffic manager for the F.A.A. in Fairbanks.
EV: The pilots can access the images over the Internet from their homes or they can
come here and we have an Intranet connection and our specialists can brief them and
point out different things about the weather cam and the picture that they're seeing.
What they're seeing is a real time picture of their destination. And right next to it on the
screen is a clear day image of the same spot. These pictures give pilots a visual to
match with the traditional written weather information from human and automated
sources. Pilot John Burns checks the weather cams before every flight.
JB: Sometimes the automated systems that report the weather on text on paper are
off, and the cameras have sort of saved our bacon, so to speak.
Burns is not alone. Valley says pilots tell him the weather cams help them decide
whether, and where, to fly.
EV: Last week, I had a pilot that looked at Anuktuvik, followed by McKinley and then
Potato Point, and then decided Valdez is where he wanted to go because he was just
going for a leisure trip. He was just looking for the best weather, and the weather cams
helped him make that decision.
Alaska is the only state with F.A.A. weather cams, but Burns hopes they will become a
trend.
JB: I think it'd be great to have them everywhere.
Amy Mayer reports from Fairbanks. You can see the weather cams for yourself. Go to
our website, www.weathernotebook.org, for a link. The Weather Notebook is supported
by Subaru of America and the National Science Foundation.
Today's Links
Web Cams
http://akweathercams.faa.gov
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