Page 16 - 2018-Issue2

Modern Weather

Information for Pilots

BY CAPTAIN KLAUS SIEVERS

Since the days of the Wright Brothers, pilots have recognized the importance of weather to safe flying. Getting modern weather
information for planning, with regards to enroute conditions to landing and final parking, is part of every professional pilot´s work.
This information-set should include appropriate, modern, colourful weather info for print-outs, for the EFB, for uplink enroute.
Information about turbulence, convection, cloud height, and volcanic clouds is extremely relevant. Unfortunately, such information-
sets are rarely available in airline practice.
Looking back, Meteorologists have concentrated on building ever more complex meteorological systems on Earth and in Earth
orbit. The Met Systems provide, transform, and transport data: gigabits/second, multi-terabyte storage banks. We have a veritable
glut of data, which will get pushed into the aviation data-systems of the future. Names like SWIM, IWXXM and 4D DATACUBE are
in use.
Data and information is available, but the relevant rules and regulations, which are necessary to co-ordinate Met around the globe,
have not been adapted to allow the practical use of much of that data. WAFS datasets are available several times a day, but visualis-
ation of the data is left to the private sector. Transmission of these data to aircraft in flight and display on an EFB is certainly possible,
but the rules to allow this are neither flexible nor practicable. Transport of bits and bytes may get the occasional nod from a regulator
but getting approval for operational use of such data by displaying them to pilots is another matter entirely. Getting approval for any
new product out of research is extremely difficult, including the approval for use of a paper printout of such information.

METEOROLOGISTS & MET SYSTEMS PROVIDE, TRANSFORM, &
TRANSPORT DATA: GIGABITS/SECOND, MULTI-TERABYTE STORAGE
BANKS

INFORMATION MEANS DATA IN THE AVIATION MET WORLD

CONCENTRATION ON DATA & THEIR WELL-BEING LED
TO STAGNATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT IN DISPLAY &
TRANSMISSION OF MET INFORMATION TO PILOTS

InterPilot | The Safety and Technical Journal of IFALPA ISSUE 2 | 2018