Clear Air Turbulence: An Airborne Alert System
L. P. STEARNS 1,
P. M. KUHN 2,
R. L. KURKOWSKI 3, and
F. CARACENA 4
1 Environmental Research Laboratories, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado 80303
2 Northrop Services, Inc., Moffett Field, California 94035
3 Flight Systems Research Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035
4 Environmental Research Laboratories, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder
An infrared radiometer system has been developed that can alert a pilot of an aircraft 2 to 9 minutes in advance of an encounter with clear air turbulence. The time between the warning and the clear air turbulence event varies with the flight altitude of the aircraft. In turbulence-free areas, the incidence of false alarms is found to be less than one in 3.4 hours of flight time compared to less than one per 10 hours of flight time in areas with turbulence.
Submitted on April 13, 1981
