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Civil
Aviation
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The Civil Aviation Branch is part of the Business
Division of the Met Office. Based at the Met Office HQ in Bracknell,
we help provide a wide range of services to aviation
in the UK and around the world. The weather is vitally
important to everyone in aviation, whether they are
flying balloons or hang-gliders, light aircraft or
large commercial jets.
| International and
national services |
A typical day in the section is busy and varied. We work closely as
a team to deal with a wide range of policy and technical issues and
aviation-related enquiries. To help understand our customers' needs,
we regularly meet with customers and visit air shows to talk with pilots.
Our group is split into two sections: services to international aviation
(such as commercial international airlines) and services to national
aviation (including national airline operations, light aircraft and
general aviation).
A great deal of our work is carried out under contract to National
Air Traffic Services (NATS), which currently forms part of the
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK meteorological authority
for aviation. We also provide a range of services on a commercial basis.
Our aim throughout is to help improve the efficiency and safety of
flight operations in a cost-effective way.
More about International and national services
| A World Area Forecast Centre |
Internationally, we are one of two World Area Forecast Centres for
aviation and are called WAFC London - the other is WAFC
Washington. This requires us to produce global forecasts of winds
and temperatures for flights throughout the world.
Our range of national services includes Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts
(TAFs), which forecast conditions at individual airports, provide
warnings of severe weather and a range of regional and low-level forecasts
in text and graphical form.
We provide a tailored service to offshore helicopter operators, and
a recognised observer training programme for air traffic control staff.
We also visit airports within the south-east and inspect their facilities
to ensure that the weather reports they generate (METARs) are
of an appropriate standard. We also provide information to the Air
Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) to help with accident investigations.
More
about WAFC
A major potential growth area is the use of the Internet to provide
our services. This will enable us to provide a range of products that
are far more tailored to the needs of individual customers.
More about Aviation
services online
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