Automated Weather
Observation Systems (AWOS), Shaunavon, Sask.
Bringing new levels of safety and accessibility to small community
airports.
Following the privatization and rationalization of the air transport
industry in Canada, small community airports have struggled for
survival. In addition to this challenge, many of these airports
are losing aviation weather services due to insufficient or non-existent
scheduled air traffic to carry costs.
These reductions in revenues and services do not diminish the
importance of small airports to their host communities. Med-evac,
small charters and carriers, and local general aviation provide
lifelines connecting  small communities to larger urban centers.
Shaunavon Airport in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan, Canada is one
such airport. In 2004, the Town of Shaunavon assembled funding
to add a basic AWOS to the local airport and contracted Axys
Technologies Inc of Victoria, BC to install and commission the
system. 
Prior to having an AWOS installed, the closest weather information available
to Shaunavon was in the town of Swift Current; 85 kilometers away "as the crow
flies".
This is particularly detrimental to altimeter settings,
as barometric pressure variances increase with distance. Without
a local altimeter source to provide pilots with accurate altimeter
settings, instrument approach minimums must be adjusted upwards.
A difference of 200 feet in approach minimums can make the difference
between a med-evac flight making it into the airport, or a patient
making a longer and potentially life-threatening trip in an ambulance
to the next urban center.
AWOS is a vital technology in keeping airports safe and accessible
during marginal weather. A basic AWOS (also known as LWIS for
Limited Weather Information System) collects current information
on wind speed and direction, altimeter setting, temperature and
dewpoint. This weather data is updated every ten minutes, and
transmitted to pilots and the general public via an automated
voice, available on VHF aircraft band or telephone dial up. In
addition, this same information can be posted to the airport's
website and displayed in real-time in an operations center.
Today, Shaunavon Airport has a new Transport Canada compliant
weather station and a new GPS approach that reflects the improved
minimums that come from having a local altimeter source. Med-evac,
general aviation, and air carrier pilots now have a local weather
data source that is accurate, reliable, and available 24/7.
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