Airlines are trying to win over passengers’ hearts with a wide-range of in-flight entertainment, including wi-fi, multimedia and streaming perks. In shrill contrast, behind the cockpit door, multimedia, real-time data & state of the art technologies are still playing catch up. Many pilots receive weather information on black & white paper charts with weather forecasts, which may be non-reliable by the time the aircraft is in the air. Especially for long-haul flights, synoptic charts and satellite images provided in the pre-flight documentation can easily become outdated. The results could range from non-efficient to outright dangerous operations.
Last year 5.2 million minutes of delay were caused by weather (compared to 2,9 million minutes in 2013) and meteorology was identified as a contributing factor in 26% of accidents in 2017. For years pilot experts have called for existing ‘modern’ technologies to be applied to improve the way meteorological information is exchanged & displayed – but to no avail. The latest forecast, however, seems to be more optimistic: change is in the air!
