Definition
Terminal Weather Information For Pilots (TWIP) is an FAA service that delivers text and character-graphic weather products to aircraft cockpits via data link at airports equipped with Terminal Doppler Weather Radar. It provides flight crews with current terminal-area weather information, including microburst alerts, wind shear alerts, precipitation, and storm cell movement, so they can make informed decisions during arrival and departure.
Plain English
A service that sends short weather messages and simple weather pictures directly to the cockpit, telling pilots what the weather is doing at and around the airport they are flying into or out of.
Context Anchor
You may encounter this term in aviation weather services, airport information systems, or references to weather available for pilots near busy airport areas.
Derivation
The name describes its function literally: weather information for the terminal area (the airspace and airport environment around takeoff and landing) sent to pilots. "Terminal" in aviation refers to the airport and its surrounding airspace, not an end point.
Why Pilots Care
Allows pilots to receive timely terminal-specific weather updates without relying solely on voice communications, improving situational awareness and safety.
Intuition Check
Do not read “terminal” here as the airport passenger building or as “final.” Here it means the airport-area environment where aircraft are arriving, departing, or operating nearby.
Example Sentence 1
Approaching Dallas-Fort Worth, the crew reviewed the latest TWIP message and saw a microburst alert on the arrival runway, so they requested a different runway.
Example Sentence 2
Before descending, the crew reviewed the Terminal Weather Information For Pilots report for any wind shear alerts.