At Mumbai airport this monsoon, automated weather data for pilots

Mumbai: This monsoon, pilots landing at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) will not have to worry about frequently changing wind-speed, air pressure or cloud cover. For, the newly-installed Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) is expected to make landings on both runways smoother.
The Indian Meteorological Department has, over the last two weeks, conducted trials of the AWOS on the runways.
Although airports in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Amritsar and Guwahati are already equipped with AWOS, the system will be functional in Mumbai only this year.
AWOS is an integrated airport weather observing system for airports, accepted world-wide for its proven technology. Australia, countries in the Middle East , Germany, USA and Canada depend on this technology to support aviation operations in bad weather.
The AWOS calculates aviation meteorological data such as pressure values, visual range of runways and also generates weather reports called METAR—a description of the meteorological elements observed at an airport at a specific time, including temperature, dew, visibility, cloud height, etc. The system has 12-15 sensors, which are dedicated for collection of data on wind speed and direction, visibility, clouds, temperature, dew, lightening, thunderstorms and sea pressure. The AWOS also has connectivity with the Automatic Terminal Information System at the airport, where the METAR reports will be delivered.
27/05/08 Sheta Desai/Expressindia.com

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports May 2008