Adverse weather poses a serious threat to flight safety. Since, so far, there is no possibility for weather modification, the only option is to study the impacts on flight safety. Then, any conclusion should be included in aircraft design and manufacturing as well as in weather forecasting and air traffic management improvement. Adverse weather has an impact on almost all aircraft systems by deteriorating their performance.

Dust can shorten significantly the operational life of jet engines; this is especially true for the helicopter engines. It can also cause an electric charging of the aircraft, posing a threat to ground personnel and ground or near ground maneuvers. Brownout is another source of loss of situational awareness, especially for helicopters. Heavy rain and icing can severely deteriorate the aerodynamic and engine performance of an aircraft. Lightning strikes can cause structural damages on an aircraft, especially in case of extensive use of synthetic materials, because of their low electrical and thermal conductivity. A lightning strike can also cause severe damages on onboard electric and electronic devices. Clear air turbulence, high and low altitude wind can cause severe, even fatal structural damages, while wind shear is often a cause of crash. All these parameters should be taken into account during all the design phases.

On the other hand, accurate weather forecasting is a key parameter to avoid hazardous situations. It also assists the air traffic control units to efficiently manage any air traffic anomaly so as to avoid "clean" airspace congestion. This situation results in more fuel consumption, atmospheric pollution, delays of scheduled flights and even mid-air collisions. All the above topics concern fields like aerodynamics, flight mechanics, structural analysis, materials science, weather forecasting and electronics. The aim of this special issue is to give design and operational procedure guidelines by putting together in a structured manner (chapters) current state of the art research work on the mentioned fields.