The Federal Aviation Authority is discontinuing a nonstop broadcast service that’s been keeping pilots aware of dangerous weather during flights since the early 1980s as part of the agency’s efforts to update and streamline its services.
According to a final decision notice set to be published in the Federal Register Monday, the FAA will end the Hazardous Inflight Weather Advisory Service, or HIWAS, in early January. The move comes after the agency received aviation-stakeholder feedback on the decision and held a safety-focused panel to address concerns that were raised about it earlier this year.
“Demand for inflight services has diminished since the inception of HIWAS while access has never been greater, which indicates that pilots are migrating to other means of obtaining inflight weather advisories,” agency officials wrote in the notice. “Multiple sources are available that provide access to weather and aeronautical information to pilots in the cockpit, often presented in a graphical format, making it easier to visualize what is going on along the route of flight.” HIWAS was launched three decades ago to offer pilots in-flight access to information about relevant hazardous weather without having to communicate with flight service specialists. It’s nonstop and operates over a limited nationwide network of VORs—Very High Frequency Omni-Directional Ranges, which are aircraft short-range radio navigation systems. But in the internet age, pilots now have access to multiple (and more advanced) sources to the same information HIWAS offers.
In 2018, the agency announced its intent to decommission the system, and in the impending notice coming next ..
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