Brian Collins Meteorologist Southwest Airlines (Wednesday November 9 th 2011) AMDAR Workshop Mexico City, Mexico

Topics of Discussion  Look at SWA Facts and Figures  SWA AMDAR History  Potential Issues in the AMDAR Process  Operational use of the Data  Future Possibilities 10/26/11

SWA Cities

SWA Aircraft Note: New aircraft are expected to begin service in Spring 2012, increasing the passenger capacity from 137 to 175

SWA Facts and Figures  daily flights from 72 airports  550 Boeing 737 aircraft (300’s, 500’s, 700’s)  Southwest consumed 1.4 billion gallons of jet fuel in 2010  Average flight length is 653 miles Shortest: 133 miles (RSW-MCO) Longest: 2,363 miles (PVD-LAS)  As of May 1, 2011, up to 58 SWA cities connect to six different Volaris cities in Mexico: Cancun, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Morelia, Toluca, and Zacatecas 10/26/11

SWA Facts and Figures  Southwest carried approximately million onboard customers during the past 12 months average of 9.7 million onboard customers per month average of 585,500 onboard customers per weekend

AMDAR History  Early in 2005, SWA began reporting wind and temperature information from 50 aircraft during the ascent phase of flight  In early 2010, SWA began reporting water vapor information along with the wind/temperature data on a select group of aircraft  Currently there are 29 of the aircraft that report water vapor information Another 2 are scheduled to be installed before the end of 2011  SWA is under contract to install 36 water vapor sensors on the aircraft over the next 2 years Contract calls for the reporting of data from all aircraft for at least 36 months after water vapor sensor installations

Issues for Consideration  No additional instrumentation was needed to report wind and temperature information Airlines do need to work with Flight Management System (FMS) vendors to establish reporting mechanisms  Need to analyze the actual cost of bandwidth versus “opportunity costs” that the AMDAR information occupies  Determine member of the organization to be responsible for aircraft setup and ongoing maintenance required for reporting  US airlines require the de-identification of flight information (i.e., remove tail number, flight number, aircraft type, etc.)

SWA Aircraft - Wind & Temp Reports (24 hours)

SWA Aircraft - Water Vapor, Wind, & Temp Reports (24 hours)

Sounding from WVSS equipped aircraft

Taxi Take-OffDepartureEn RouteApproachLand 6 sec intervals to 90 secs from OFF 20 sec intervals to 510 secs to TOC 3 min. intervals to TOD Top of Climb (TOC) Top of Descent (TOD) ARINC 620 Reporting Specifications 60 sec intervals to ON

Water Vapor Sensor Image 1

10/26/11 Water Vapor Sensor Image 2

Future Plans & Opportunities  Automated reporting of turbulence is delayed due to FMS capacity issues Exploring options for turbulence (EDR) reporting, including on new Teledyne equipped units Possibly the aircraft during 2013  SWA hoping to expand AMDAR participation (wind and temperature reporting) to take advantage of company route structure  SWA hopes to provide input and additional participation in any AMDAR data optimization efforts

Thank you for your time!