SOUTHWEST AIRLINES’PARTICIPATION IN AMDAR

Brian CollinsMeteorologist

Southwest Airlines

(Wednesday November 9th 2011)

AMDAR WorkshopMexico City, Mexico

Topics of Discussion

Look at SWA Facts and Figures

SWA AMDAR History

Potential Issues in the AMDAR Process

Operational use of the Data

Future Possibilities

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SWA Cities

SWA Aircraft

Type Number Seats

737-300 168 137

737-500 25 122

737-700 357 137

Note: New 737-800 aircraft are expected to begin service in Spring 2012, increasing the passenger capacity from 137 to 175

SWA Facts and Figures 3400+ daily flights from 72 airports

550 Boeing 737 aircraft (300’s, 500’s, 700’s)

Southwest consumed 1.4 billion gallons of jet fuel in 2010

Average flight length is 653 miles

Shortest: 133 miles (RSW-MCO)

Longest: 2,363 miles (PVD-LAS)

As of May 1, 2011, up to 58 SWA cities connect to six different Volaris cities in Mexico: Cancun, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Morelia, Toluca, and Zacatecas

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SWA Facts and Figures

Southwest carried approximately 116.5 million onboard customers during the past 12 months

average of 9.7 million onboard customers per month

average of 585,500 onboard customers per weekend

AMDAR History Early in 2005, SWA began reporting wind and

temperature information from 50 aircraft during the ascent phase of flight

In early 2010, SWA began reporting water vapor information along with the wind/temperature data on a select group of 737-300 aircraft

Currently there are 29 of the 737-300 aircraft that report water vapor information

Another 2 are scheduled to be installed before the end of 2011

SWA is under contract to install 36 water vapor sensors on the 737-700 aircraft over the next 2 years

Contract calls for the reporting of data from all aircraft for at least 36 months after water vapor sensor installations

Issues for Consideration

No additional instrumentation was needed to report wind and temperature information

Airlines do need to work with Flight Management System (FMS) vendors to establish reporting mechanisms

Need to analyze the actual cost of bandwidth versus “opportunity costs” that the AMDAR information occupies

Determine member of the organization to be responsible for aircraft setup and ongoing maintenance required for reporting

US airlines require the de-identification of flight information (i.e., remove tail number, flight number, aircraft type, etc.)

SWA Aircraft - Wind & Temp Reports (24 hours)

SWA Aircraft - Water Vapor, Wind, & Temp Reports (24

hours)

Sounding from WVSS equipped aircraft

Taxi Taxi Take-Off Departure En Route Approach Land

6 sec intervals to 90 secs from OFF

20 sec intervals to 510 secs to TOC

3 min. intervals to TOD

Top of Climb

(TOC)

Top of Descent

(TOD)

ARINC 620 Reporting Specifications

60 sec intervals to ON

Water Vapor Sensor Image 1

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Water Vapor Sensor Image 2

Future Plans & Opportunities

Automated reporting of turbulence is delayed due to

FMS capacity issues

Exploring options for turbulence (EDR) reporting,

including on new Teledyne equipped units

Possibly the 737-300 aircraft during 2013

SWA hoping to expand AMDAR participation (wind

and temperature reporting) to take advantage of

company route structure

SWA hopes to provide input and additional

participation in any AMDAR data optimization efforts

Thank you for your time!