Pilot's Workpad
This project was established to equip every pilot in the Airline with a notebook. In order to achieve this goal, many existing methods and working procedures had to be modified. Upon successful implementation, pilots were able to make final fuel calculations, including their orders, within minutes prior to departure, thus saving time and money and ensuring that valuable slots were not missed. The project also enabled pilots to access a common communication platform, which greatly improved the Airline’s quality management system. The notebook is now a mandatory piece of equipment for many airline-wide extensions that are now commonplace in the cockpit.
Flight Briefing
One of the extensions of the Pilot’s Workpad is Flight Briefing. The goal of this project was to give remote access to the pilots to do their flight briefing online. The pilots could access the Airline’s system from any location, allowing the Airline to reduce the time pilots were normally required to be onsite in the flight briefing centres and operational control centres. Equipped with the Pilot’s Workpad, the pilots received updates of the flight plan in the cockpit, giving them access to the most up-to-date information to plan their route.
Web based Flight Planning and Briefing
We developed software that enabled our airline customer to access flight briefing and planning information and capabilities online. The major benefit for the Flight Briefing availability on the Web was that the pilot did not have to be in the operational control centre each time the first briefing took place. This shortened the time that was required, especially in the cases of a crew change. Flight Planning with a web-based technology enables smaller airlines to access more powerful flight-planning engines without having to operate such a system themselves.
Electronic Charting
The aim of this project was to provide electronic aviation charts for pilots. This required the set-up of a data entry team, a software database to store the data, the software required to view the data, and the technology to transfer data to our stations as well as to synchronise this data regularly. Furthermore, the project needed to adopt the existing process into the new environment, ensuring that the charts were up to date, and that date-related changes were synchronised accurately. The distribution of this electronic charting included the proper change management that enabled the customer to operate safely, based on the charts provided. The major advantages of this technology were the instant access to the charts on computers, and the elimination of manual processes to update the charts. Information was quick to access with the easy-to-use zoom function and multiple screen features.
Moving Map
We developed software that could be installed on special hardware in the cockpit of an aircraft connected to the Customer’s database. It displayed the map, including the flight path at any point in time. The data of the moving map was based on the electronic chart, but provided additional information about the flight and displayed the aircraft’s position at any point in time. Additional information could be enabled or disabled according to the user’s needs. This tool provided a new generation platform for the aviation industry. However, the project was discontinued due to regulatory issues.
Flight Watch
This was a web-based tool that enabled the customer to display on-screen the positions of their aircraft on a map. The data would be provided from the flight operational system of the aircrafts. The map could be zoomed or be shown from a variety of perspectives. Weather and airport information could also be displayed. The system was database driven and flexible. In this way, the Customer could decide which information – including warnings – to show or track.