Behind a ‘tsunami’ of demand for onboard connectivity, Captain Derek Spicer asks if safety, operational and business reasons should encourage airlines to equip all aircraft with broadband systems.
On 1 June 2009, following a chain of events and mistakes, a latest generation Airbus A330 airliner crashed into the Atlantic ocean with the loss of all on board. The tragedy of Air France 447 shocked the world and cut the airline training and safety management communities to the core. The lack of monitoring of aircraft transiting the oceanic area meant that air traffic control were unaware of the aircraft’s disappearance for hours and could not plot the last position within an area covering 6,560 square miles. The accident investigators, Air France and Airbus only had a list of data ‘text’ messages representing 1 minute of information from the Aircraft Communication and Addressing Reporting System (ACARS) to ascertain what might have happened. Anything else was conjecture. There followed an insatiable demand for answers that could only come from the recovery of the ‘black box’ Flight Data Recorder. The search area was up to 13,000ft below sea level with a seabed terrain similar to that of the Rocky Mountains. Finding the briefcase-sized recorder took two more years and a recovery cost of $18 million.
Nearly four years after the loss of AF447 where are we now in our transmission and use of flight data?
Following AF447, ICAO conducted a study entitled OPTIMI (Oceanic Positioning Tracking Improvement and Monitoring Initiative). As a result of this and other studies led by the manufacturers, solutions are being found to the lack of real time data streaming from airliners. However, waiting for legislation to really kick in takes time and the FAA will not require all commercial aircraft to have the most basic automatic surveillance transmitting equipment until 2015.
One company seeking to exceed the FAA requirements with an Iridium satellite-based system is FLYHT Aerospace Solutions in Calgary. The system transmits a wealth of flight data beyond the current ACARS type system, yet works in conjunction with it. Describing the company’s AFIRS satcom data system Matt Bradley, VP business development says, “A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that the value is limited to the box on the plane, but actually the real value is in the whole system to be able to take data off an aircraft and be able to get it right to the user in the form of business intelligence that enables decisions.”
This is achieved by an onboard computer storing all flight data but then using logic to select and compress the information to be streamed back to base live. This reduces satellite transmission costs. However, in the case of an emergency and as a direct result of AF447 the firm has also developed FLYHTStream. Bradley notes, “This technology brings revolutionary improvements to flight safety. There is an alerting function triggered in an event of an emergency on the aircraft without any pilot input at all. Also, when that alert is triggered, it streams black box data off the aircraft in real time to a quarantined, safe, server on the ground. In this situation the full bandwidth is used and can even be converted into a real time animation. Twenty to thirty seconds after the pilot is experiencing the (emergency) event people could be looking at the cockpit instruments and aircraft in flight, in real time.” In the case of not being able to retrieve the traditional Flight Data Recorder after an accident, the streamed data is stored in a secure environment for access by the authorities. On a practical ‘day to day’ level, the type of technology used for this can also provide the ability for training captains to debrief trainee pilots following a landing. Bradley describes “the busy cockpit environment means that it is very easy to miss details and this tool could allow an ‘instant rewind’ of the previous landing’ purely for training feedback”
Despite increasing numbers of products, experience is showing us that airlines need education on the far-reaching benefits of flight data collection.
Many airlines profess high safety standards, but very few make proper use of the flight data monitoring available to them. Generally the tier-one airlines have well established flight data monitoring done by non-management pilots and trained ground staff. This is a slow process where data is downloaded by engineers after a days flying, or sooner if requested by the pilot. The airline provides feedback to pilots when a flight parameter is exceeded, a mistake is made or a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is broken.
You may think that with ‘big brother watching’ this creates an oppressive cockpit environment. The truth is the opposite and monitoring is now a way of life, central to situational awareness. Airlines that have an established and open safety management system with non-punitive reporting by staff will minimise errors and threats to safety far quicker than airlines that don’t. The use of collected flight data is central to this. Airline flight safety expert, Captain David McHugh has represented airlines and individual pilots using collected flight data for incident investigation.“Early collection of flight data is where the highest level of safety is attained, flight data monitoring by a neutral party can then highlight trends that mean we can quickly jump on a problem.”
On the benefits of broadband access on board McHugh adds, “The use of live black box or an ‘event’ pushbutton on the flight deck could even stream visual information from cockpit and cabin cameras to the secure server. This could be gathering evidence for criminal prosecution following a cabin incident or streaming live to Medlink where a doctor can assist cabin crew dealing with a medical case. Airlines could even be able to negotiate cheaper insurance based on these advances.”
In all cases it is cost that drives airlines to be innovative. IndiGo, the most successful low-cost airline in India is light on its feet, even without the latest technology. The challenge is that India does not have a large oil industry so aviation fuel is even more expensive than elsewhere. There are many diversions and re-routes during the ferocious monsoon season and finally the airway routing system is indirect and archaic. You might think this an impossible environment to succeed with the low-cost airline model. IndiGo has tackled these issues head-on with its use of high quality expertise in its Delhi Operations Control Centre, supplementing the airborne Captain’s decision making process in ‘real time’. For 24 hours a day, a team of highly experienced meteorologists constantly interpret and monitor live radar and Internet-based weather observations (far more detailed than available to the pilot on board). They then make efficient re-routing suggestions to the pilot via ACARS message. At the same time, flight planning officers monitor aircraft live and coordinate with ATC by phone to achieve direct routings ahead of the aircraft. This is a rare combination of ground-based and airborne expertise in real-time. Pilots feel they are supported and yet the final decisions still rest with the Captain. Were this type of support relieved of the limitations of ACARS text messaging and made available more widely through broadband live streaming, all airlines could achieve tangible operational and fuel savings.
The installation and satellite broadband access cost is still the biggest block to equipage by airlines. Neil Tucker, sales and marketing director with AB Internet, a British based consumer satellite broadband provider, warns of little short-term change in the cost of providing broadband connectivity to aircraft. “Consumers want Internet access for nothing [free] yet satellites are still phenomenally expensive to launch and operate. However, the future could be in network prioritisation. On board, if the access is contended with all the other passengers, maybe the answer is that there are two transmitters/tariffs, one for shared access for passengers and one for the constant streaming required for flight data,” he says. “The airlines need to make the most of the splash pages (logon page) to the aircraft WIFI for advertising and even charge passengers through credit card for broadband access”
So, is there really any way that safety, operational benefits and fuel efficiency can underpin the business case for airlines fitting broadband access systems on board?
Airlines are currently struggling to make the passenger use of onboard connectivity pay for the high installation costs and higher satellite bandwidth charges. There is no doubting the operational and fuel cost savings.
Finally, when it comes to putting forward the safety case justifying the cost of installation, nobody sums it up like Stelios Ioannou, founder of the easyJet empire and recently FastJet in Africa: “You think safety is expensive? Try having an accident!”
(Photo above and main from AirTeamImages.)
March 28, 2013 at 5:24 pm
You speak of Indigo as though their OCC environment is revolutionary. This Ops Control environment has been in place for an extensive period at all major US carriers and many international carriers. The technology in most ops centers is exactly what you speak of at Indigo. Often times, licensed aircraft dispatchers provide these same services to every flight. In addition, most major carriers employ in their ops control environments a group of personnel from customer service experts to meteorologists to aircraft routers. This team sets about every day to keep things safe, efficient, and on time. A synchronized team is required with the myriad of complexities in today’s operating environment.
In a lot of situations it is the restrictions of the regulatory authorities that limit our ability to take advantage of the enhanced technology solutions. That shortcoming can not be lost when saying the airlines need an education. In most situations airlines understand and desire future technologies, but the regulatory decision makers proceed at a much slower pace. The current struggle to relieve some of the PED restrictions on board aircraft with the US FAA is an example of those frustrations.