The Global Hazards Weather Project

Following a successful feasibility study, a real time operational demonstration to uplink two satellite-based convective weather products into the flight deck of transoceanic aircraft began in 2015 with Lufthansa Airlines (LH), Basic Commerce & Industries, Inc. (BCI), National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and MeteoStar collaborating as partners. In the feasibility study, called the eFlightOps Atlantic Hazards Display, the Cloud Top Height (CTH) product, computed over the limited geospatial domain of GOES-East and GOES-West, was loaded onto a tablet during pre-flight briefings and carried into the aircraft as a static display of weather conditions near take-off time. At the conclusion of the feasibility study, the Global Hazards Weather project began with expansion to a global domain over latitude limits of -50°S to 75°N using data from six geostationary satellites. A second product, the Convective Diagnosis Oceanic (CDO), was added because of its skillful detection of more intense convective hazards, giving additional information to the CTH.  The CDO and CTH products are displayed on an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB), comprised of a Microsoft Surface Pro 3, using the Lido EnRoute Flight Manual (eRM). In November 2015, approval was granted for the CTH and CDO products to be uplinked into the cockpits of LH B747-8 aircraft.

In this paper, we describe the overall project, including the convective weather products, the engineering design of product creation and dissemination, communication requirements for product service, the product display, product assessment, user feedback and product improvements. Details of ground-to-ground and ground-to-air communication options will be discussed, as well as the implications of the communication choices that were made. A preliminary assessment of product effectiveness will be discussed.

This paper will briefly detail the historical requirements of weather data use within the cockpit, required partnerships with standardization and governmental authorities and indicate where industry and these authorities need to continue and to expand collaborations.