Weather Technology in the Cockpit

摘要

The June 1, 2009 Air France Flight 447 accident focused industry attention to the need for additional, aircraft-specific weather information in the cockpit, particularly for transoceanic flights. As long-range and ultra-long-range intercontinental flights become routine, weather information provided during preflight planning may not be adequate when a flight most needs hazardous weather information. The main motivator for this research is the need for hazardous weather information updates in data-sparse regions while the aircraft is en route. Additionally, because fleet-wide equipage for electronic flight bags (EFBs) and/or integrated flight displays will mostly lag technology capabilities, portraying the hazardous information to the pilot may need to use current avionics, without modifying and certifying expensive upgrades to primary flight displays and avionics. This research explores the concept of use, including potential training and human factors issues, of simple character graphic and color graphic depictions of frequently updated weather information meant to supplement textual updates and airborne weather radar information. Figure 1 shows an example of both the character and graphic display concepts.