Global Reporting Format (GRF) is an online course to train flight crew in the new ICAO methodology for assessing and reporting runway surface conditions. GRF is intended to be the only reporting format for international aviation. It applies to all environments, from wintery to tropical landscapes.

The GRF aims to mitigate the risk of runway excursions, the most common form of runway safety-related incidents, through the harmonized assessment and reporting of runway surface conditions. Make sure you’re trained, prepared, and qualified before the 4th of November 2021.

The majority of runway excursions occur when the runway is contaminated by water, ice, or snow. At the moment, runway surface conditions may be reported using several types of different methodologies around the world, such as depth of runway contamination, airplane braking action, etc. 

This has created confusion and can cause misunderstandings between reports and flight crew. Accidents related to runway excursions are one of the top safety risks in aviation.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) study in 2006, to understand the underlying reasons for this problem, resulted in interesting findings: different methodologies being used around the world for information sharing about runway conditions, different communications methods, lack of harmonization in reporting, different training and even lack of training.

What’s new: 

The new SNOWTAM format will now gain global acceptance which the old one did not. The new SNOWTAM will be built around “Assessment” instead of “Observation” with 2 sections: