A Demonstration to Validate the Minimum Weather Services for Oceanic and Remote Airspace

In the summer of 2012, the Federal Aviation Administration Weather Technology in the Cockpit (FAA WTIC) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) completed the Human-Over-The-Loop (HOTL) simulation demonstration at the FAA Next Generation Integration and Evaluation (NIEC) Research Cockpit Simulator (RCS). The HOTL simulations tested the effect that a supplemental graphical (textual and color) convective weather product had on pilot decision making and flight procedures in the cockpit of oceanic aircraft. The demonstration showed that the graphical product enhanced pilot decision making by improving their situational awareness of upcoming weather hazards, in avoiding the weather hazard and by reducing work load. The graphical products were valued with the color graphic being preferred over the textual graphic.

As follow-on to the HOTL demonstration, a second demonstration is being planned to validate the minimum weather services required for safe and efficient flight in oceanic and remote airspace. This demonstration will be performed with online crews of participating airlines whose aircraft are equipped with portable or installed display capabilities on the flight deck. The demonstration will investigate the feasibility and cost of uplinking convective weather information into the flight deck balanced against the operational need for updates. This paper will describe the plans and scope of the second demonstration.