Quick Access Recorder Data Analysis Software for Windshear and Turbulence Studies

Abstract

For analysis of low-level windshear and turbulence events at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), besides pilot reports routinely received from Air Traffic Control, Quick Access Recorder (QAR) data are obtained from the local airlines by the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO). Instead of using directly the wind data recorded on the aircraft by the flight management system (FMS), there has been a collaborative study between HKO and the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) in The Netherlands to develop a QAR data analysis software to calculate the meteorological quantities, such as the three components of the wind, windshear hazard factor and turbulence intensity parameters, taking into account the aircraft’s aerodynamic factors (e.g. sideslip angle, angle-of-attack). This paper describes the main features of the calculation software, named WINDSTURB, and illustrates its application to windshear and turbulence studies through selected cases at HKIA.