At Austin-Bergstrom International Airport landings and takeoffs are routine. While Central Texas has not experienced severe thunderstorms in quite some time, a group of particular weather instruments at the airport is always ready just in case.
One crucial instrument is called the Weather System Processor. It warns air traffic controllers and pilots of wind shear and microbursts -- a sudden downward rush of air within a thunderstorm.
Steve Barnes is an air traffic control training specialist at ABIA.
"What it allows us to do as controllers is to better see the storms that develop in a multi-color and computer-enhanced way,” he said.
A microburst, along with pilot error, was responsible for the crash of Delta Airlines Flight 191 at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in 1985; 136 people lost their lives. That is why warning pilots of microbursts and wind shear is so important.
"If you think about it, if you're riding your bicycle down the street, and you're used to this headwind, and then suddenly the headwind stops, and you get a wind that's hitting you off your left shoulder, it changes how you're riding your bike," Barnes said.
Barnes says that is easy when riding a bike. It is obviously a critical factor when flying an aircraft when lives are at stake.
The Weather System Processor allows controllers to see how and where wind shear is impacting flights coming in and out of ABIA. The WSP display is a radar display, but it also alerts controllers to wind shear and microbursts by painting red ovals on the map when these dangers are detected.
The WSP works in conjunction with a display in the control tower that also alerts controllers if wind shear or a microburst is detected near or on a particular runway.
Even though this equipment is not visible to most airline passengers, it is there keeping them safe.
