Pegasus Aircraft

US-based Honeywell Aerospace has secured a deal to provide a IntuVue 3D weather radar hazard display update V1.0 to Turkey’s budget carrier Pegasus Airlines.

Under the deal, Honeywell Aerospace will install the software upgrade on the carrier’s fleet of 42 Boeing 737 aircraft over the next eight months.

This development is the first in Europe following the system’s certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

The IntuVue 3-D weather radar hazard display update V1.0 offers new features such as hail and lightning prediction, longest turbulence detection range, and rain echo attenuation compensation technique (REACT).

These features will simplify decision-making for re-routing and tactical manoeuvring around in adverse weather conditions, allowing Pegasus Airlines to reduce unscheduled maintenance costs and aircraft grounding.

Honeywell Aerospace EMEAI Airlines vice president John Ashton said the weather-related incidents continue to cost airlines significant amounts of money and impact the safety and comfort of passengers.

"Pegasus Airlines is mitigating this by flying the most advanced and capable weather radar on the market today," Ashton said.

“Pegasus Airlines is mitigating this by flying the most advanced and capable weather radar on the market today."

The IntuVue 3D offers an increase in system reliability by up to 45%, 30% lower maintenance costs, and a 25% weight reduction compared with competing radars, according to Honeywell Aerospace.

The system’s volumetric buffer generates and stores a 3D image of the weather ahead from real-time data captured by the radar, which automatically scans and gathers information from a ground-level to 60,000ft, and out to 320nm.

This picture allows pilots to accurately navigate around, or over, the storm cell and reduce delays, turn-backs or diversions.

In addition, the predictive hail and lightning uses complex algorithms to data stored in the 3D volumetric buffer in order to identify storm cells likely to generate weather features, and the results are then displayed on the flight display.

The system will offer turbulence detection capabilities of up to 60nm, which will enable pilots to give cabin crew and passengers prior warning about eight to ten minutes before the aeroplane reaches turbulence.

REACT helps in tracing out poor weather that may be hidden behind storm cells that are too dense for radar to penetrate, helping pilots to understand how far away the severe storms are located.


Image: Pegasus Airlines has selected Honeywell Aerospace’s IntuVue 3-D weather radar hazard display update V1.0 for its B737 fleet. Photo: Honeywell International Inc.

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