More than 100 contract weather observers working for the Federal Aviation Administration could be out of a job in September 2013. The FAA says it's looking at transferring the observers' duties to certified air traffic controllers at the end of the fiscal year.
Currently, CWOs are responsible for evaluating temperatures, wind ceiling and augmenting an automated service observation system.
Steven Fuller, a full-time contract weather observer at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, says that as FAA officials move his duties to air traffic controllers, they won't be able to assess unanticipated changes -- like a shift from rain to freezing rain -- quite like he can.
"There's going to be a question of training, of how qualified they are to determine those kinds of things, and we've had it change here on a dime and from rain -- and it wasn't even in the forecast that there would be freezing precipitation," Fuller said.
The FAA closed 14 CWO programs in the Lower 48 Wednesday. The next round of scheduled closures, expected to will affect 24 locations, will happen no later than July 15. Five of them are in Alaska including King Salmon and Bethel, as well as Fairbanks and Juneau's international airports and Merrill Field in Anchorage.
Fuller says he's worried the changes could reduce the quality of the weather reports.
"You have to really ask yourself if that is a good time to have controllers having an additional duty of doing weather observations, on top of what they're already handling," Fuller said.
The FAA defended the changes in a statement, saying they would provide the same level of service more efficiently.
"Air traffic controllers currently provide quality weather observations at more than 300 airports around the country," FAA officials wrote. "The FAA pays contractors to provide those same services at an additional 140 facilities around the country. In an effort to reduce costs without reducing the services or impacting safety, the FAA has been working through a phased plan to train controllers to take over those duties from the contractors."
After further reviewing its plans, the FAA says it's decided to extend its weather observer contracts through the fiscal year, to allow for more input from stakeholders on how to proceed going forward.
According to the plan, CWOs at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport could feel its effects starting Aug. 15.
Contact Samantha Angaiak