Emirates aims to take guesswork out of winter weather flying

Emirates is at the forefront of operations technology and is testing a new system that will replace traditional, manual deicing decision-making procedures.

Emirates is testing a new system designed to make decision-making over aircraft deicing operations more accurate. Justin Lane / EPA

While the problem of ice and snow is not one that really affects aircraft in this country, for local airlines serving overseas markets where winter weather can cause serious disruption, it is a major concern.

Remarkably, perhaps, given the ultra-high-tech world of modern aviation, the standard method for decision-making regarding the effect of snow and ice on an aircraft would probably be familiar to flyers in the pre-jet age.

In general, modern pilots manually use a combination of holdover timetables – which provide the estimated time for which an anti-icing fluid will stop frost or ice forming on aircraft surfaces – and simply looking out of the cockpit window at weather conditions. They then estimate the amount of de-icing and anti-icing fluids required and the time beyond which it would no longer be desirable for the aircraft to depart.

However, Emirates aims to bring this process into the 21st century.

The airline has started field-testing an innovative decision support technology that allows it to better manage operations, safety and environmental performance in the face of extreme and disruptive winter weather.

Working with Vaisala, an environmental and industrial measurement services firm based in Finland, Emirates has rolled out testing of the CheckTime decision system for winter weather at Copenhagen and Chicago.

CheckTime uses real-time measurements of a number of factors such as temperature, wind and precipitation type from precision weather sensors to accurately estimate the impact of prevailing weather conditions on de-icing and anti-icing fluids on the aircraft. It then communicates the results to pilots via the ACARS (aircraft communications addressing and reporting system) system on the aircraft.

CheckTime replaces the manual procedurecurrently used by pilots. Under this system Emirates’ pilots will be able to better focus on other crucial aspects of safety and flight operations when preparing for the flight in extreme winter weather, the airline says.

Copenhagen and Chicago were selected as testing stations for CheckTime as both destinations experience adverse winter conditions, Emirates said. In addition, both are serviced by the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 777 aircraft,respectively, allowing Emirates to gain fleet-wide experience for the performance of the CheckTime decision support system in winter weather. The carrier only operates those two types of jetliner – the only airline in the world to do so.

During the initial tests, Emirates has been using the CheckTime system in parallel with existing manual cold weather operating procedures to examine and validate results.

Emirates said it will continue testing the CheckTime decision support system at Copenhagen and Chicago until the end of the current winter season. A decision to expand CheckTime to other Emirates’ destinations that experience cold weather will be made following an analysis of test results, it added.

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