Operational Benefits of Remote Oceanic Meteorology Information Operational (Romio) Demonstration: A Survey-Based Analysis

Abstract

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Weather Technology in the Cockpit (WTIC) program has sponsored an operational demonstration to provide satellite-based meteorological information to commercial flights in remote and oceanic regions. This effort is called the Remote Oceanic Meteorology Information Operational (ROMIO) demonstration. For this effort, the National Center of Atmospheric Research (NCAR) developed two weather products: 1) Cloud Top Height (CTH), and 2) Convection Diagnosis Oceanic (CDO). The CTH product displays cloud top contours at flight altitudes of FL320, FL340, FL360, FL380, and FL400. The CDO product displays hazards associated with the storm updraft, lightning, and overshooting tops in four intensity levels (medium, high, severe, and extreme).In this paper, we study the potential benefits of the ROMIO demonstration through survey analysis to measure pilots’ acceptance and the ROMIO-aided behavior during en-route convective weather avoidance. We created a post-flight pilot survey to have a qualitative measure of the benefits of using the ROMIO application and to assess users' acceptance of the new airborne information technology. The questions in the questionnaire were mainly categorized into five groups: 1) decision-making, 2) workload, 3) situational awareness, 4) efficiency, and 5) quality of information. We applied Wilcoxon’s rank-sum test to analyze Likert scale responses. The study includes 105 pilot survey responses. The results of this study improve our understanding of the potential benefits of new airborne weather information technology from the pilots’ perspective and allow us to identify potential areas for further improvement of the ROMIO demonstration.