Rep. Lee Zeldin opposes FAA plan to turn over weather observation to air traffic controllers at MacArthur Airport

A Long Island congressman has come out against a Federal Aviation Administration proposal to turn over the role of on-the-ground weather observers to air traffic controllers at MacArthur Airport.

MacArthur is among 57 sites using contract weather observers being evaluated for such a transition of duties, an FAA spokeswoman said. Other New York airports on the list are in Rochester, Syracuse and Albany.

The weather observer office at MacArthur should be kept open for the safety of the flying public, said Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), vice chairman of the House Subcommittee on Aviation.

The plan calls on controllers, who "already have enough on their plate ensuring our safety in the air," to oversee the automated weather monitoring system, Zeldin said in a statement. "We should leave weather observation to the professionals who are experts in meteorology."

The FAA is planning local safety reviews to "evaluate the potential transfer of weather reporting to controllers," with airports, air carriers, pilots and other stakeholders to be included in the discussion, said the agency spokeswoman, who could not say when such a review at MacArthur might occur. Controllers "already provide critical weather reporting services at more than 390 airports," she said.

Still, assigning the duties to controllers, whose "primary duty is to guide aircraft," could lead to the "degradation" of the quality of weather observations, said Hank Berg, supervisor of contract weather observers at MacArthur.

Eight observers -- two of them full time, two part time and four relief workers -- are assigned to MacArthur by Florida-based IBEX Group Inc., he said. Their jobs would be eliminated under the new approach.

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Their roles include monitoring surface conditions, such as cloud height, visibility and precipitation type, which can vary from that observed by tower controllers stationed 129 feet above ground. Berg tells of getting calls from the tower saying that rain, not a rain/sleet mix was being observed at their height and asking if he was sure about his data. "I was just outside and got pelted by it," was his response, pointing out that when you're talking about near-freezing conditions, even 1 degree can matter.

Observers also provide "augmentation" to the Automated Surface Observing System, instruments that provide minute-by-minute updates on conditions, including cloud height and nature -- such as scattered or overcast -- visibility, temperatures, precipitation, and wind speed and direction.

Observers have to step in at times to input elements that the instruments can't detect or to correct data, he said. Indeed, he calculates that information needed to be added or corrected at least 8,368 times from November 2014 through last month.

The National Weather Service has kept the Island's official weather records at MacArthur since 1984. Should the observers role be transitioned, the weather service could continue its record-keeping function, relying on data from the airport's automated system, as it also goes through quality control by weather service meteorologists, said Ross Dickman, meteorologist in charge of the service's Upton office. Though the system does not measure snowfall amounts, he said he anticipates a nearby site could be set up to include that measurement.