Data from weather sensors together with the aircraft’s flight information might give the pilot important information about the breaking distance needed to bring the plane to a complete stop when landing. Tyra Invest AS has run a feasibility study at SINTEF to investigate these possibilities. Other partners were Avinor AS, Norwegian Meteorological Institute, and SAS Braathens.

The runway conditions in airports during winter weather are often changed dramatically in few minutes. Until now the airport has to be closed down to measure the runway’s friction coefficient with a specialized vehicle. This measurement is not only causing delays due to holding the air traffic, but it is also not very accurate and therefore does not provide the pilot with trustworthy information on whether to land or not. Using data from landing airplanes for friction measurements will give more precise measurements than current instruments in use.

The project showed that weather measurements together with advanced statistics and data analysis correlates better with a plane's actual breaking distances, than the traditionally measured friction coefficient. This means that the pilots better can decide how aggressively they must break the plane and how much weight they can carry.

For further information please contact Trine Kirkhus .

This project was supported by the Norwegian Research Council (NFR)