AC 91-83, FIS-B

Bob Noel

Bob Noel

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Bob Noel
I just received AC 91-83, dated 25 Aug 2009. In it there is the
statement: "The weather products provided by FIS-B are for
information only. Therefore, these products do not meet the
safety and regulatory requirements of official weather products."

So my question is: what good is FIS-B? Seems like very little
value added to have FIS-B.

:-(
 
Bob Noel said:
I just received AC 91-83, dated 25 Aug 2009. In it there is the
statement: "The weather products provided by FIS-B are for
information only. Therefore, these products do not meet the
safety and regulatory requirements of official weather products."

So my question is: what good is FIS-B? Seems like very little
value added to have FIS-B.

:-(
Click to expand...

About the same value as having XM Weather/WXWorx?
 
Bob Noel said:
I just received AC 91-83, dated 25 Aug 2009.
Click to expand...

I have a few questions:

First, how did you receive AC 91-83? Is there a subscription list or something? I would be interested in getting notices of new AC's - especially related to Parts 61 or 91.

Second, what did you receive? When I google the AC I get a couple of hits on the FAA's website for the AC dated Oct 1 of '08 (a year ago) which say it was supposed to be in the AIM but didn't make it. They add that the document is not currently available. A link would be interesting if you have it handy.

Finally, WTF did the FAA do to their AC website? I like that now they break down the AC's by section of the FAR, but within those breakdowns the sort order leaves a lot to be desired. At any rate AC 91-83 doesn't appear at all.

Bob Noel said:
In it there is the
statement: "The weather products provided by FIS-B are for
information only. Therefore, these products do not meet the
safety and regulatory requirements of official weather products."
Click to expand...

IIRC this is the same disclaimer they put on the original FIS service. That played on Bendix/King black boxes and, oddly, Honneywell provided the ground-based end of the service. Paid for by the FAA, of course.

Bob Noel said:
So my question is: what good is FIS-B? Seems like very little value added to have FIS-B.
Click to expand...

FIS-B is simply a way of receiving weather information in the cockpit. For all practical purposes it's the same data (we think) as WxWorks or WSI. At least it's supposed to have NEXRAD, METARS, and TAF's. Dunno about TFR's. FIS-B is of HUGE added value if you don't have WxWorks, WSI, Stormscope, or radar. The downside is that it's only available line-of-site from the ground station. Because of the ground station constraint the original FIS was only certified down to 5,000' AGL. FIS-B will have more ground stations and will probably work lower in lots of places. The FAA's goal is to have the same ADS-B (and hence FIS-B ) coverage as the current radar system. WxWorks or WSI work at ground level (useful before takeoff) but charge a fee.

(Editorial Comment Alert) I have no technical quarrels with the FIS-B service. I don't like the fact that I can't receive it at a lot of the remote airports I fly to, but that's my problem and I'm happy to pay XM to fix that. What I don't like is that FIS-B is being bundled with ADS-B as an integral part of the service. Bull. It's an add-on that's being supplied "for free" to get GA to buy into ADS-B and NEXGEN. But this add-on will only be transmitted for the benefit of GA (airliners use a different ADS-B frequency.) Can you say "user fees"? Free service my a$$.
 
I thought a while back there was a brou-ha-ha about FIS-B being unbundled or unfunded in the ADS-B rollout.
 
> First, how did you receive AC 91-83?

In the late 90's I subscribed to a bunch of the AC categories
It was directly related to my work responsibilities at the time.

> Is there a subscription list or something?

The interesting thing is that some time ago I received noticed
that the FAA was going to stop sending out printed copies of
ACs (which made sense), but every once in a while I get one.

> Second, what did you receive?

I received a paper copy of AC 91-83, dated 25 Aug 2009.

> Finally, WTF did the FAA do to their AC website?

hmm, don't know, I haven't looked at the AC part of the website
in more than a year or two.
 
Doesn't show up on the main FAA website. Dammit, that's the THIRD AC I've heard referenced by the FAA that doesn't show up online. Ron and I were talking to a lady from Honeywell earlier in the week. She called the FAA on an FMS question and was given an answer that said an AC had been superceded and the new AC said XXX. Go to the FAA web site, the old AC is still listed as valid and the new one isn't listed.

I am beginning to think that the FAA should be burned to the ground and started over, with everyone in a management position being fired. But I haven't had my breakfast yet so I'm extra grumpy right now.

But the faa.gov website does have a function to contact the AC administrator, so I'm going to ask them where the heck the august 2009 version of 91-83 is. I would expect a web site would be the first place a policy should appear once it's signed off.
 
Last edited:
TMetzinger said:
I would expect a web site would be the first place a policy should appear once it's signed off.
Click to expand...

fwiw - I've seen some show up on the website before I received
paper copies.

so, sometimes the system works
 
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