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Air carrier captain reported their air carrier has apparently terminated a procedure that allowed flight crews to access real time weather information in favor of a wi-fi dependent system that doesn't work as well.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1559756 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201807 |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 173 Flight Crew Total 21000 Flight Crew Type 3101 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
Narrative:
Evidently; the ACARS code tg is no longer supported; despite its presence in the fom QRH. We tried to use the tg code going into denver on a day when wind shear or microbursts were possible; and got no response. We queried dispatch; who relayed from the chief pilot that tg was not supported; and to try wsi [pilotbrief].wsi does not show wind shear or microburst activity. The tg returned a real time bird's eye view of actual weather; gust front and microburst activity at the airport. It was vital to pilot awareness; and the information it relayed is not available in wsi. Furthermore; wsi relies on wi-fi; and on [this airplane]; the wi-fi is unreliable. Our wi-fi was in fact inoperative.I hope [our company] will reconsider the decision to remove a valuable tool for pilots' awareness of real-time weather events. This decision did nothing to enhance safety; and in fact degraded it.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Air carrier Captain reported their air carrier has apparently terminated a procedure that allowed flight crews to access real time weather information in favor of a Wi-Fi dependent system that doesn't work as well.
Narrative: Evidently; the ACARS code TG is no longer supported; despite its presence in the FOM QRH. We tried to use the TG code going into Denver on a day when wind shear or microbursts were possible; and got no response. We queried Dispatch; who relayed from the Chief Pilot that TG was not supported; and to try WSI [Pilotbrief].WSI does not show wind shear or microburst activity. The TG returned a real time bird's eye view of actual weather; gust front and microburst activity at the airport. It was vital to pilot awareness; and the information it relayed is not available in WSI. Furthermore; WSI relies on Wi-Fi; and on [this airplane]; the Wi-Fi is unreliable. Our Wi-Fi was in fact inoperative.I hope [our company] will reconsider the decision to remove a valuable tool for pilots' awareness of real-time weather events. This decision did nothing to enhance safety; and in fact degraded it.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.