1. Delta Flight Weather Viewer
A Path Forward
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2. Delta Air Lines Proprietary & Confidential
Wright Brother PIREPS
PIREPS are subjective in nature
What is “light” for one pilot may be “moderate” for another
Pilot tolerance for turbulence varies with phase of flight
PIREP thresholds are aircraft dependent
“Light” for a large aircraft could be “moderate” or even “severe” for smaller planes
Due to various reasons, turbulence PIREPs are often inaccurate in space and time:
A 2012 study by NCAR found*:
PIREPS, on average, have distance errors of km
Average PIREP timing errors can be large especially with airline position reports
*Pearson, J. and Sharman, R., 2013: “Calibration of in situ eddy dissipation rate (EDR) severity thresholds based on comparisons to turbulence pilot reports (PIREPs)”, presentation at 93rd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 16th Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology, Austin, Texas.
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3. Automated Turbulence Reporting
Development began in 1990s under FAA’s Aviation Weather Research Program (AWRP)
Software uses existing sensors and avionics to derive a measure of the turbulent state of the atmosphere
Aircraft independent, not a direct measurement of g-loads
Provides atmospheric turbulence metric similar to sea state
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standard for turbulence reporting
Alternative metrics are being used (RTCA standards work)
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4. Delta Air Lines Proprietary & Confidential
Delta’s Flight Weather Viewer
12,000+ DAL pilots receiving live data through Gogo WiFi network – Q1 2016
Depicts graphical views of forecast and actual turbulence reports along route of flight
Greatly enhances cockpit situational awareness- “Manage the Cabin”
Enhances pilot’s ability to anticipate and react to possible turbulent conditions
Better decisions based on not only cabin safety, but ride comfort and fuel-burn efficiency
Reduction in ATC workload
Less requests for altitude changes
Improved NAS capacity
Very well received
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5. Delta Flight Weather Viewer
Available in-flight with Gogo Crew Channel
Allows route entry
Provides turbulence forecast + real-time data
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6. Reports Validate Forecast
On the right side is a plan view of a 3D forecast represented by colored areas representing different intensities of turbulence overlaid with square boxes showing aircraft reports. The flight path is shown by a magenta line.
On the left side, the app shows a vertical cross section of the flight path since it is the focus for decision making and provides a quick intuitive view of the turbulence for altitude decisions.
Boxes represent aircraft reports color coded for ride conditions
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7. Producer (Storm Reflectivity) vs
Producer (Storm Reflectivity) vs. Threat New Sensors Constantly Evolving
Over the years crews have correlated red areas with the worst threat but the colors are a measure of reflectivity, i.e., rainfall, not necessarily turbulence, hail or lightning. However, modern radars can infer where the threats exist often outside of the areas of heavy rainfall.
Other examples
Convective Cell vs. Hail
Convective Cell vs. Lightning
Clouds vs. Visibility
Clouds vs. Ceiling
Volcano vs. Volcanic Ash
Military airspace vs. Restricted Airspace

8. Standardized Presentation of Threats with Alert Thresholds
Key enabler: User defined thresholds which drive operational decisions.
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9. Notification system for Quiet Dark Cockpit
The app builds a 3D polygon ahead of the flight path to search for an exceedance of any threat defined in the data base. The crew’s focus is flying the airplane rather than watching all the different weather sources.
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10. Lessons Learned for Weather Integration
Pilots are not meteorologists
Weather compilation is not intuitive
Information overload is common
New technologies can work and are cost effective
Weather viewer launched with turbulence as building block for overall hazard deployment
Outstanding Feedback from Crews – “GAME CHANGER”
The turbulence portion of the app was launched for all Delta pilots (12,000+) in April of this year and has been well received.
Examples of feedback
“Game Changer”
“ Best technology I have seen in 25 years of flying”
“The Flight Weather Viewer Turbulence display has been the most incredible enhancement to enroute situational awareness since the development of the glass cockpit and the FMC (Flight Management Computer). The forecasts are accurate, the reports objective and indicative of actual conditions, and the app functionality makes all of that information extremely easy to access. “
“We never even needed to query the controller about the "rides ahead"...we already knew them.”
“…invaluable in helping the Flight Attendants plan their service. They think I’m some sort of wizard….”
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Future Challenges
Under FAA funding, NCAR is developing a Technical Transfer package that will allow all users to more readily implement standardized EDR reporting.
The Package comprises both onboard data processing software and ground- based software to provide tuning and verification
Testing is being done in collaboration with Delta Airlines and Boeing
February: NCAR begins work for Delta Air Lines
March-May: NCAR works the coding changes necessary, and delivers for Delta Air LInes ACMF AMI changes
June: Delta coordinates with Boeing for tests in ACMF lab, and incorporates into ACMF AMI
July: ACMF AMI integration and delivery to Delta Air Lines
August-October: Flight trials at end of Summer 2016
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12. Delta Air Lines Proprietary & Confidential
Weather Drivers
Safety
Better experience for crew and passengers
Efficiency/Emissions
Capacity = Delays
Overall - IMPROVED WEATHER DATA DELIVERS BETTER SOLUTIONS FOR ALL DRIVERS.
This helps level set the objectives that has driven the work with weather obviously beginning with turbulence, but with the other weather threats to follow in a rational approach
Safety –The flight crews often “CRY WOLF” not because they are bad people but due to the lack of accurate data. PIREPS were created by the Wright Brothers, but are still used today basically unchanged from the Kitty Hawk days.
Efficiency/Emissions are two sides of the same coin and can be driven by constant altitude changes
Capacity – If crews constantly chase smooth air based on PIREPS in the CHAT ROOM (ATC Sector), the controller will eventually state certain altitude blocks are unavailable.
Overall – The solutions for all 3 drivers appear to conflict, but BETTER TURBULENCE KNOWLEDGE CAN DRIVE BETTER SOLUTIONS FOR ALL 3 DRIVERS, i.e., manage the cabin rather than search for smooth air that is truly not attainable since 97% of turbulence is light or less and exists in most airspace. When was the last time you went to the beach and there were no waves in the ocean?
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13. Delta Air Lines Proprietary & Confidential
Turbulence Types
Convective Boundary Layer Turbulence
Clear-air Turbulence (CAT)
Cloud-induced or Convectively-induced Turbulence (CIT)
Mountain wave Turbulence (MWT)
In-cloud Turbulence
Low level Terrain-induced Turbulence (LLT)
Source: P. Lester, “Turbulence – A new perspective for pilots,” Jeppesen, 1994
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