How Aviation Weather Systems Will Improve in the Future

Preparing for numerous possible weather conditions is a crucial part of flight planning, and it allows for operators to ensure that flight paths can be optimally made using the most efficient and safe routes. Turbulence is one of the most impactful forces on aircraft parts, often accounting for upwards of $100 million annually for the maintenance and efficiency impacts faced by the general aviation sector in the United States alone. To create optimal flight paths while accounting for weather, technology has consistently advanced to increase the capabilities of weather systems for more accurate and real-time forecasting. In this blog, we will discuss the future of weather systems and how upcoming technologies will improve flight planning.

One of the most important improvements to aviation weather systems that many companies are focused on is to increase bandwidth availability so that each aircraft can relay their weather data obtained from avionic systems to one another. This would tremendously increase the ability to rapidly change flight plans based on newly formed hazards or weather conditions as the most recent information is shared. While many of these crowdsourcing initiatives are targeted for ground-based operations, many companies also seek to implement such changes in the flight deck itself for the benefit of pilots.

One major company that is partaking in the initiative of advancing weather planning technology is The Weather Company, and they have focused on the development of products that can provide the flight deck with weather hazard alerts in a timely and precise manner. With their Turbulence Auto-PIREP System (TAPS), a turbulence-detection algorithm is used to provide technicians with the ability to better determine whether an inspection is needed after turbulent flight. Furthermore, meteorologists can utilize TAPS data for better weather forecasting and the National Transportation Safety Board may use such data for accident investigations.

Airliners such as Delta Airlines have also spearheaded initiatives for advancing weather systems, and they launched an application that allows for pilots to utilize avionics sensors on their Boeing 737 and 767 fleets in order to set threat index alerts. The major benefit of this particular app is that it is capable of determining the impact turbulence may have on a particular type of aircraft based on an established algorithm. Alongside Delta, Massachusetts-based company Climacell has also entered the market with the intention of becoming the default micro weather platform for commercial aviation, UAVs, and other emerging technologies.

With Climacell’s API, operators can retrieve weather data that is real-time, forecast, nowcast, and historical. Additionally, such data can be accessed in various locations across the globe. In order to benefit pilots and flight planning, the API designed by Climacell includes data regarding precipitation, wind, temperature, ceiling, base, coverage, cloud type, humidity, visibility, barometric pressure, surface radiation, and more. With the ability to overlap a visual weather map over a developer map, airliners and operational teams can take advantage of such data in a visual form.

As more companies join the initiative for improving weather systems, such technology may quickly advance to bring pilots and airport operation teams the ability to better create flight plans that accommodate more precise and real-time forecasts. Aviation Sourcing Solutions is a premier online distributor of aircraft parts, and we are your one-stop-shop for top quality avionic components, maintenance tools, aircraft fasteners, and much more. We invite you to peruse our offered components at your leisure, and our team of industry experts are readily on standby 24/7x365 to assist you with competitive quotes for your comparisons. Begin the purchasing process today with a quote on items you are interested in and see why customers choose to rely on Aviation Sourcing Solutions for all their operational requirements.