Cutting turbulence injuries in half: the real-time connection

Nothing sets passengers’ teeth on edge and induces a fear of flying quite like turbulence, be it the weather-induced variety or C.A.T—clear air turbulence. 

Each year the nerve-wracking phenomena cost airlines some US$100 million. Turbulence remains the number one cause of non-fatal injuries aloft.

Watch this spectacular video of a thunderstorm over Guatemala and South of Mexico. It was taken from a Boeing 767-300 by Noe Castillo of Videos de Aviacion. The thunderstormn action starts at 1.5 minutes in and is amazing.

In recent years, companies have zeroed in on the problem, trying—if not to tame it—at least better forecast C.A.T. so pilots can avoid bumpy areas. 

The latest advance and most promising is a deal among The Weather Company (an IBM Business) and Gogo Business Aviation. 

The arrangement will speed the delivery of real-time, turbulence-avoidance information to airline dispatch operations and pilots alike.

The companies are able to do this, according to The Weather Company’s President Mark Gildersleeve by, “collecting massive amounts of data very quickly, and then using that insight to provide guidance to all flights that will be traveling through impacted airspace.”

The result could spare passengers and crew alike the uncomfortable bumps. 

Traditionally, flight operations, pilots and aviation meteorologists have received coded verbal reports—reports containing limited information on actual, real-time flight conditions—via pilot reports, or PIREPS. 

Now, the Weather Company and Gogo say their Turbulence Auto PIREP System (TAPS) can communicate critical en-route weather information far faster, affording pilots a chance at avoiding sometimes-dangerous conditions. 

The payoff among those who employ the WSI Total Turbulence set-up is, say the two partner companies, a full 50% reduction in turbulence-related injuries and unnecessary maintenance inspections.

AirlineRatings will have more on this important story in the near future.