Climate information in hand and in the cockpit

The eWAS application, developed in Barcelona, provides the pilots with real-time information about the flights’ weather conditions. Now it will be incorporated into the whole fleet of Malaysia Airlines. The 77 aircrafts of the Malaysia Airlines fleet have been the latest to bet on eWAS to embed the application into their systems and thus plan their flights having access to real-time information during the flight. Currently, pilots plan the routes around the weather conditions, relying on information received in paper form as much as six hours before take-off. This is, without question, an old resource that prevents them from having updated information about the conditions that they will face. It was before this situation, that eWAS, Enhanced Weather Awareness Solution, was created as the first multi-weather provider product in the market. This solution, now available in an app format, but that can also be embedded into a cockpit, has been developed in Barcelona by the high technology company GTD, as a kind of aeronautical spin-off. After a decade of research and because of their experience with critical software, the company, with more than 30 years of experience in high technology projects for the space, energy and security sectors, has committed to a global launch of eWAS, with a very successful start. The eWAS solution provides the pilots with real-time meteorological information through an app that they can download for free. Its development is the result of a spin-off made by the Barcelona-based company GTD. The company is already reaching agreements with airlines from all over the world to embed the solution into the cockpit avionics. Currently, there are more than 1.000 pilots from 100 airlines worldwide who are using eWAS, along with more than 40 aeronautics companies and one aircraft manufacturer who is conducting tests to embed the application into the cockpit. One of the interested parties, in addition to Malaysia Airlines, is Air France, that in the end of 2016 signed a collaboration with eWAS, estimating that almost 4.000 pilots will be using the system by next spring in more than 800 daily flights. SAFER AND MORE COMFORTABLE FLIGHTSPilots, as well as airlines and passengers, benefit from the technology of eWAS. The application, which gathers information from weather providers as prominent as Météo France, Schneider Electric or Weather Company, allows the pilots to anticipate storms, lightning, wind, turbulence or icing, among other phenomena. In March, the application will also integrate Ice Crystal forecasts, the icing conditions that affect Boeing aircrafts. For the airlines, both public and private, this navigation strategy results in lower costs, due to the decrease in fuel consumption as well as in risk of being fined due to delayed flights, while the passengers can enjoy a safe and comfortable flight without delays. Mainly, its practical implementation is key in order to avoid dangerous situations such as the ones that affected a Qatar Airways flight last December between Washington and Doha which, during an emergency landing, was surprised by severe turbulence. Consequently, the passengers were hurled out of their seats, resulting in several minor injuries. The passenger who took the brunt of the injuries suffered a leg fracture. REAL-TIME INFORMATIONeWAS can be downloaded for free until March in iOS format, both from the official ewas.aero website and from the App Store, as well as upon request for Windows devices. The solution allows planning the flight on mobile devices and provides the pilots with real-time climate information, updated almost every ten minutes, through WiFi, 4G, SATCOM and ACARS. The eWAS application cuts costs for the airlines and is able to guarantee safer flights without delays caused by meteorological variations. Source: La Vanguardia