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Weathering the stormHow eWAS Pilot is changing the face of significant weather avoidance

eWAS Pilot, the EFB Weather Awareness Solution

Contributor: Toby Tucker, SITA FOR AIRCRAFT Portfolio Director Cockpit & Cabin Apps

A Step Ahead.Avoid the Avoidable.UNLOCK POSSIBILITIES TODAY.

CHANGING GLOBAL WEATHER PHENOMENAA 2013 study conducted by the University of Reading* suggests a significant increase in the intensity and frequency of severe weather events can be expected in years to come. According to the study’s findings, the chances of significant turbulence will increase by between 40% and 170% from 2013-23. Meanwhile, the intensity of turbulence, it concludes, is also likely to increase by between 10% and 40% in that same period.

To ensure passenger and crew comfort and safety, protect their airline brand and avoid unnecessary maintenance spend, pilots and airlines are calling for a more in depth, yet more user-friendly, presentation of weather data and information.

What’s more, when the impact of flying through severe turbulence requires a four hour aircraft inspection, threatening an airline’s on-time performance (OTP), new tools that help protect airline schedules are invaluable.

The intensity and frequency of severe weather events is increasing.

For airlines seeking a cockpit-centric app offering a real-time, graphically optimized view of weather sources, forecasts and current information, SITA FOR AIRCRAFT’s eWAS Pilot solution has the answer.

THE CHALLENGE

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WHAT IS EWAS PILOT?Our eWAS Pilot solution improves pilots’ complete situational awareness of significant weather. It achieves economical, intelligent and flexible journey plans, delivering best-in-class weather information directly to a pilot’s EFB, tablet or smartphone, before, during and post-flight.

Since its development, eWAS Pilot has quickly become a must-have app for cockpit crew. It is leading the way as a fast developing, easy-to-use-and-deploy EFB app, that promotes improved significant weather awareness and proven cost avoidance benefits, with a rapidly growing following within the pilot community.

New features are added on a near-monthly basis, enabling eWAS Pilot to deliver return on investment, and new functions, while minimizing pilot workload.

SITA FOR AIRCRAFT’s ever-evolving approach ensures eWAS Pilot remains relevant and reliable in enabling airlines to better manage a growing number of weather-related events affecting aircraft.

HIGH ICE WATER CONTENT New statistics have also emerged about individual weather phenomena and their likely impact on airlines – in particular, High Ice Water Content (HIWC).**

This aviation hazard, caused by the intake of small ice crystals into jet engines, was first recognized around 25 years ago. The risks associated with HIWC are clear: flying through significant weather phenomena, such as HIWC areas, can cause up to $500k in costs in a single event, since the damage is caused in the core of the engine. However the industry is yet to find a definitive answer for why areas of HIWC are produced.

SITA FOR AIRCRAFT’s electronic situational weather awareness solution, eWAS Pilot, helps overcome the HIWC knowledge gap. By predicting the likelihood of HIWC in a given location, eWAS Pilot supports pilots to follow airline procedures to avoid potential problems – from engine damage to power loss – that HIWC can cause in many models of commercial airplanes and engines.

eWAS Pilot can also arm pilots with a visible warning of areas where the forecast outside air temperature will reach minus 70°C or lower, enabling the pilot to carry out airline best practice for avoiding the risk of ice crystals forming in the aircraft’s fuel. Pilots can then circulate fuel between the colder wing tanks and the relatively warmer fuselage tanks. eWAS Pilot delivers value for money

Smoother flights, better pilot information, optimized fuel burn and avoidance of unnecessary maintenance costs = happy passengers, better informed pilots and a proven return on investment for the airline.

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A full turnkey solution

eWAS Pilot is a full turnkey solution.It is cementing its position as the best-in-class, pilot-centric, graphical weather solution, by constantly evolving to reflect new meteorological research and phenomena.

eWAS Pilot delivers:• A dedicated, 24/7-monitored SITA FOR AIRCRAFT cloud-

hosted service

• Automatic integration of flight plan routes into cockpit eWAS Pilot EFB apps, helping to minimize workload

• Hugely improved accuracy over rival solutions, removing the probability dimension with strength, area and height forecasts

• Best-in-class weather data from providers including Schneider Electric, Météo-France, Jeppesen and WSI

• A ubiquitous design enabling airlines to simply equip entire fleets, regardless of aircraft and connectivity types. It is compatible with any EFB hardware, OS or core EFB software, including Apple and Windows devices

• Automatic or controlled inflight updates over ACARS or IP broadband

• The information pilots need in unconnected or connected mode, in accordance with airline EFB programs.

Following a raft of other recent application developments, the application also includes:• Wind and temperature information at each flight level,

tropopause and ISO 70 levels, for smooth air and fuel icing (HIWC) awareness

• Airport information for selected airports with METAR/TAF Headwind and Crosswind information

• Automatic loading of Météo-France CB Sat products (Pacific, America)

• High glance factor for airport conditions e.g. lighting or low ceiling visibility shown for easy pilot reference.

WHY EWAS PILOT?The growth in potentially damaging weather-related events, and the issues posed by rapid social media sharing of these events, means it is more important than ever that cockpits and dispatchers have access to real-time, best-in-class weather information sources and updates.

Flight tests have proved that aircraft using eWAS Pilot enable safer, more efficient and more comfortable flights. Thanks to inflight connectivity advances, alerts and updates can be delivered directly to chosen devices. This means there is no longer the need to rely on paper-based weather updates that are outdated even before the plane leaves the runway.

eWAS Pilot information is delivered over a graphical user interface, showing both vertical and horizontal profiles. This helps the pilot to visualize the potential encounters with significant weather at any point during the flight, allowing the pilot to better anticipate events that might occur immediately or in three, four, or six-plus hours’ time, using multiple sources of weather data.

Unlike previous solutions, where pilots frequently felt that paper Sigmet charts or PDF copies of paper charts were all there was available, eWAS Pilot has been developed in partnership with pilots and airlines.

This allows pilots to feed directly into the product’s research and development process through test mode use on thousands of flights, where feedback is actively encouraged and acted upon in the development roadmap.

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PILOT TRIALS

“Our eWAS Pilot weather tool shows crews the areas of turbulence along their route, which means that during flight preparation they can study alternative paths. A highly effective procedure that is often used. Then, once inflight, thanks to the weather radar system in the cockpit, they can adapt their route and change altitude as required, to avoid areas of storm activity. In flying jargon, it’s known as weather avoidance.” Olivier – A320 Air France captain

“My experience with eWAS Pilot is positive. We can focus on observing weather both pre-flight and during the flight. I think eWAS Pilot is the future because it is paperless and I can prepare my flight quickly with any electronic device. I would recommend eWAS Pilot to other pilots.” Christian – A380 Air France captain & GTD Consultant

Nobody can control the weather, but together we can help you avoid the avoidable.

Sources * www.reading.ac.uk/news-and-events/releases/ PR497508.aspx ** www.ral.ucar.edu/projects/hiwc

Today, more than 10,000 pilots and 75 airlines are trialling or using our eWAS Pilot solution with extremely positive results. Any airline is welcome to trial eWAS Pilot for a one or two month period, with pilots involved in the trial committed to giving feedback.

The feedback we have already received shows pilots like the flexibility of comparing multiple weather vendor data in trials, and then selecting the data of one or two preferred suppliers for production release. The multi-source data gives a pilot better insight into the weather conditions that will be encountered.

eWAS Pilot has now been tested or actively used on thousands of flights by pilots around the world. Feedback from the pilot community is a key driving force behind the ongoing development of the app, and we are pleased to share just a couple of the responses we have received so far:

“Cumulonimbus clouds, the storm clouds that cause turbulence, are highly visible, and during the day we fly around them. At night, or when they are concealed in a layer of clouds, the aircraft weather radar system detects them for us.

About SITASITA is the IT provider for the air transport industry, delivering solutions for airlines, airports, aircraft and governments. Our technology powers more seamless, safe and sustainable air travel.

Today, SITA’s solutions drive operational efficiencies at more than 1,000 airports while delivering the promise of the connected aircraft to more than 400 customers on 18,000 aircraft globally. SITA also provides the technology solutions that help more than 40 governments strike the balance of secure borders and seamless travel.

Our communications network connects every corner of the globe and bridges 60% of the air transport community’s data exchange.

SITA is 100% owned by the industry and driven by its needs. It is one of the most internationally diverse companies, with a presence in 200 countries and territories. SITA’s subsidiaries and joint ventures include SITAONAIR, branded SITA FOR AIRCRAFT, CHAMP Cargosystems and Aviareto.

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