HIWAS is no longer

RyanB

RyanB

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This is probably old news to most, but some might not know. On January 8 the FAA discontinued the HIWAS service in favor of FIS-B and other new (modern) means of accessing in-flight weather data. So, the end to another era of aviation.

RIP - HIWAS...
 
Funny thing, I heard one controller yesterday mention “available on hiwas...”

I had thought it was gone earlier this month. Wonder if the controller said it from force of habit or if it was still operational in that area?
 
Had a controller a few months ago ramble off his 2 minute obligatory “.....available on HIWAS or flight service station,” ask us if anyone actually listens to what he says or goes on the HIWAS frequency. In the age of ADSB and EFBs, it’s pretty useless.
 
It took them a while to stop mentioning Flight Watch in the airmet/sigmet spiel as well.
 
It could have gone away twenty years ago and I would not have noticed it. And I've been flying for nineteen. I think I learned about it in ground school and that was the last of it for me.
 
Ryanb said:
This is probably old news to most, but some might not know. On January 8 the FAA discontinued the HIWAS service in favor of FIS-B and other new (modern) means of accessing in-flight weather data. So, the end to another era of aviation.

RIP - HIWAS...
Click to expand...
Wow, a youngster, punk, millennial pilot knew about that. :D Just funnin'!
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Funny thing, I heard one controller yesterday mention “available on hiwas...”

I had thought it was gone earlier this month. Wonder if the controller said it from force of habit or if it was still operational in that area?
Click to expand...
I think I just finally stopped saying Flight Watch. It's going to be another while before HIWAS stops coming out accidentally. :)

Maybe the rambling will finally come to an end. I know when I'm flying it goes in one ear and right out the other. I already have very detailed (graphically presented) data that I've been monitoring for my flight path before they mention it.

Now broadcasting relevant/recent PIREPS for my route giving cloud tops/bottoms, icing, ride reports, etc...that's pretty good stuff to hear in my opinion.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Funny thing, I heard one controller yesterday mention “available on hiwas...”

I had thought it was gone earlier this month. Wonder if the controller said it from force of habit or if it was still operational in that area?
Click to expand...
Probably out of habit. Spoke to a briefer today and he said that all HIWAS was discontinued as of the 8th.
 
Sac Arrow said:
It could have gone away twenty years ago and I would not have noticed it. And I've been flying for nineteen. I think I learned about it in ground school and that was the last of it for me.
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Yeah, I dunno, I mean, I know things change, especially technology but some things I wish they’d keep around for us guys who still like to use these resources.
 
Ryanb said:
Yeah, I dunno, I mean, I know things change, especially technology but some things I wish they’d keep around for us guys who still like to use these resources.
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I suppose if I wanted, I could do a W&B problem with a slide rule, but why...
 
Oh no, what will I listen to for barely discernible information dumps now?
 
Ryanb said:
Yeah, I dunno, I mean, I know things change, especially technology but some things I wish they’d keep around for us guys who still like to use these resources.
Click to expand...

The thing with maintaining technology is that it must offer a benefit to justify. I think I’d they'd just shut it off once ADS-B In and SXM weather were created that would’ve been bad, but those have been around for over a decade now. While few jets have weather download, they do have other tools so it’s not such a big deal.

As much as I like old technology, this was one that was a case of “the best we could do at the time”, like A-N ranges.
 
PeterNSteinmetz said:
They were an improvement on NDBs
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True, but NDBs were/are really cheap to install and maintain by comparison, hence why they’re still used in a number of parts of the world.

Once the VOR came along the A-N range served no real purpose. The reason the VOR still makes sense is for ground based backup navigation in case of a GPS outage, so that’s another matter.

But HIWAS was always a “nice to have” rather than a “critical to safety of flight.”
 
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