An investigation into last year’s fatal accident of an air-ambulance Pilatus PC-12 has prompted the NTSB to send to the National Weather Service two recommendations intended to improve its reporting of low-level turbulence and the training of NWS forecasters.
On April 28, 2017, the turboprop single hit terrain near Amarillo (Texas) International Airport moments after taking off. The pilot and two crewmembers were killed. The airplane was flying under a Part 135 IFR flight plan in IMC at night when the accident occurred. The pilot reported to ATC at 6,000 feet msl about a minute before the crash.
Although this investigation is ongoing and the probable cause is yet to be determined, the NTSB is concerned that low-level turbulence might have been present over Amarillo below 8,000 feet on the night of the accident. “Further, we noted that while the NWS Aviation Weather Center (AWC) issued several weather advisories around the time of the accident for areas near the accident, there were no airmets active for turbulence below 10,000 feet at the accident location at the accident time.”
As a result of its investigation to date, the Safety Board is urgently recommending that the NWS revise its reporting guidance on the issuance of “airmets and other products that advise of nonconvective turbulence hazards when convective significant meteorological information advisories are active, or may be issued, in the same region.” The NTSB also recommended that the NWS “develop and provide formal training to [NWS] aviation weather forecasters on the analysis, interpretation, and forecasting of low-level turbulence.”