A History of Weather Reporting from Aircraft and Turbulence Forecasting for Commercial Aviation

Manual pilot reporting of weather conditions, including turbulence, has been standard procedure during most of the Twentieth century. By the late 1940s, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) had developed standards which included aircraft-based weather observations by pilots and subsequent government distribution. In the USA, commercial airlines developed their own collection and distribution methods. This was in response to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements that pilots should report hazardous weather, and airlines should have ability to monitor the progress of every flight. By the 1980s, flight location as well as wind and temperature were being automatically reported in some areas of the world. But automated turbulence report capability was mainly a research effort with some operational capability introduced during the 1990s and 2000s.