EDITOR

Changing Weather
Two years ago in our May issue Balloon Life first reported to the ballooning community that the Federal Aviation Administration would be changing how weather information reported. As part of a standardization with the rest of the world, airport surface observations and airport terminal weather forecasts will be changed to the International Civil Aviation Organizations (ICAO) formats.

Originally scheduled for the beginning of the year, the changes will now begin on June 1, 1996. The hourly surface observations (SA) will be referred to as METAR (Aviation Routine Weather Report) and the airport terminal forecast will be referred to as TAF (Aerodrome Forecasts). Pilots will notice some differences in the sequence in which information is presented, formatted and the abbreviations used. For those who rely on DUATs (Direct User Access Terminal) or commercially provided weather services, you will find that all providers will continue to include a plain language interpreter just as before.

Balloon Life has prepared a special report to help you adjust to the new system and where to obtain additional information. Our report begins on page 12.

Our special report on weather also includes a report on a hand held calculator that will convert your pibal readings into real time winds aloft information. Developed by Bob Summersett, the Windsock provides an economical and portable method for pilots to obtain current wind information just before launch. The story begins on page 18.

Low Flying
Last month Balloon Life reported that the Federal Aviation Administration has been petitioned to lower the minimum safe altitudes for balloons. For over a decade there has been an on-going debate within the balloon community as to whether allowing balloons to be able to fly at a lower minimum safe altitude is a good idea.

On one side of the issue is the fear that balloons at a lower altitude will increase public complaints of noise and nuisance leading to restrictive local laws. On the other side of the issue are those who fear that the FAA is applying airplane logic to balloon flight, flight that often requires to use of winds at many different altitudes, including low flight, to successfully navigate.

In 1986 the Balloon Federation of America petitioned the FAA, and amended in 1990, for lower altitude minimums for balloons. That petition was denied in 1991. The denial is presented as a guide to the FAA’s reasons and to show what objections would have to be overcome.

As to whether balloons need a change to the regulation or not, Balloon Life has reprinted most of the National Transportation Safety Board’s decision in suspending a balloon pilot’s certificate for low flight and using unacceptable landing sites. This case, along with others before, demonstrates that appropriate landing sites is a more important issue then low flight. Choose Your Landing Site Carefully begins on page 34.

Safety?
From time to time we have been taken to task by our readers for not proof reading enough. At times these wee mistakes have evoked volumes of chatter. Such as our electrical wench in the March issue. The following excerpt is from the Federal Register April 24, 1996, Rules and Regulations, page number 18223. It is a Final Rule for Federal Aviation Regulation Part 31 (airworthiness standards for manned free balloons).
"§31.47 Burners.

(a) If a burner is used to provide the lifting means, the system must be designed and installed so as to create a fire hazard."

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