Advanced technology helps Chengdu Airlines effectively avoid severe weather and enhance flight safety
ShanghaiSeptember 16, 2015Telegram /PRNewswire/ -- Honeywell Aerospace (NYSE:HON) today announced that Chengdu Airlines Co., Ltd. will equip its newly purchased fleet of 50 Airbus A320 aircraft with Honeywell’s IntuVue RDR-4000 3D weather radar to tackle the challenges posed by adverse weather conditions, further improving flight safety and efficiency. The first deliveries will begin in November 2015. With this technology, Chengdu Airlines pilots will be able to optimize flight routes, reduce operating costs, improve flight efficiency, and maximize passenger safety.
Brian Davis, Vice President of Asia Pacific Air Transport for Honeywell Aerospace, said: “Many airlines, including Chengdu Airlines, are eagerly anticipating the opportunities brought by the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative and seeking innovative solutions to address the accompanying challenges, thereby enhancing flight safety while reducing costs and minimizing flight delays. On these 50 new Airbus A320 aircraft, pilots will benefit from the advanced IntuVue system, which significantly enhances situational awareness, enabling them to proactively avoid severe weather and prevent damage caused by lightning and hail.”
Chengdu Airlines is a domestic low-cost airline, with its main base of operations at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, the fifth busiest airport in China. As the capital of Sichuan Province, Chengdu is an important transportation hub in western China. However, its unique terrain results in highly changeable weather conditions. For example, typical conditions such as overcast skies and thunderstorms have posed a series of challenges for Chengdu Airlines, including flight delays, increased operational costs for the airline, and higher travel expenses for passengers. With Honeywell’s IntuVue 3D weather radar, Chengdu Airlines can optimize route adjustment decisions, helping ensure safe flights in and around Chengdu.
IntuVue Advantages of 3D Weather Radar
As the first entirely new weather radar system developed in nearly 20 years, the IntuVue RDR-4000 3D weather radar offers greater reliability, reducing operating costs by more than 35% and maintenance costs by over 30%. Its system weight can be reduced by up to 30%, saving up to $10,000 per aircraft annually. The IntuVue 3D weather radar automatically scans the weather ahead, collects relevant data, and generates 3D images, presenting real-time weather information on displays through intuitive colors and patterns, and providing 3D weather monitoring data from the ground up to 60,000 feet and within a range of 320 nautical miles.
The 3D storm model images provided by the IntuVue RDR-4000 help pilots more easily and accurately guide the aircraft around or over storms, thereby reducing flight delays, diversions, and returns. In addition, the IntuVue RDR-4000 3D weather radar also features the following capabilities:
- It not only detects the development of thunderstorms but can also accurately predict which storms contain lightning and hail, reducing the risk of encountering hazardous weather. It offers the industry’s most advanced wind shear prediction and alerting capabilities, with a detection range of up to 5 nautical miles, providing enhanced flight safety.
- It has the industry’s longest turbulence detection range of 60 nautical miles, allowing pilots to provide cabin crew and passengers with advance notice of approaching turbulence 8 to 10 minutes in advance during normal cruise speeds.
- For excessively intense and impenetrable hazardous weather, the Radar Echo Attenuation Compensation Technique (REACT) helps accurately warn of potentially hidden hazardous weather targets behind strong thunderstorms, enabling pilots to clearly understand the distance and relative position of severe weather to the aircraft, so they can replan safe flight paths.
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Honeywell Aerospace’s products and services are found on nearly every commercial, defense, and space aircraft in the world. Honeywell turbochargers are also used by nearly every automotive and truck manufacturer globally. The Aerospace business unit develops innovative solutions, as well as technologies and products such as aircraft engines, cockpit and cabin electronics, in-flight wireless connectivity, and logistics, to reduce fuel consumption in cars and airplanes, improve on-time performance, enhance flight and runway safety, and deliver safer, more efficient, and more comfortable experiences for customers worldwide. For more information, visit http://aerospace.honeywell.com, follow @Honeywell_Aerospace on Weibo, or follow @Honeywell_Aero and @Honeywell_Turbo.
Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 diversified, high-tech, advanced manufacturing company whose businesses include aerospace products and services; building, home, and industrial control technologies; turbochargers; and specialty materials. Honeywell’s history in China dates back to 1935, when it established its first sales office in Shanghai. Today, all three of Honeywell’s business groups have a presence in China, with the Asia-Pacific headquarters of all its business units located in China, and multiple subsidiaries and joint ventures across more than 20 cities in the country. Honeywell currently employs approximately 12,000 people in China. For more company information, please visit Honeywell China’s website at www.honeywell.com.cn, or follow Honeywell’s official Weibo and WeChat accounts.
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