Is it true that the METAR/TAF domestic implementation date has slipped significantly?
A18. No. However the implementation date has slipped one month while the time was changed in the interest of air safety. This change in date and time was necessitated by delays in software development and testing that resulted from the government furloughs and shutdowns this past December and January. The time of 0800 hours UTC was chosen as the most optimal time from a safety standpoint. This is a time (0400 hours local daylight time on the East Coast and 0100 hours LDT on the West Coast) of low air traffic volume. Again, the new METAR/TAF implementation date and time is July 1, 1996, at 0800 hours UTC.
