Status Reports on National and Regional Tamdar Programmes

WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

______________________________

TENTH MEETING OF THE AMDAR PANEL

LANGEN, GERMANY, 13-16 NOVEMBER 2007

AMDAR Panel/10/Doc. 3.5.1(5)

(27.IX.2007)

ITEM 3.5.1

ENGLISH ONLY

AMDAR IMPLEMENTATION

Status Reports on National and Regional AMDAR Programmes

Established AMDAR Programmes

Status Report on AMDAR Programme in Canada

(Submitted by Canada)

Summary and Purpose of Document

This document presents Canadian AMDAR activities and achievements during the period October 2006 to August 2007.

ACTION PROPOSED

The Panel is invited to note the information contained in the document.

___________________

1. CURRENT STATUS

The current Canadian operational AMDAR fleet consists of 33 CRJ-200 and 51 DHC-8-100/300 Air Canada Jazz-operated aircraft. The Jazz AMDAR fleet contributes approximately 34,000 observations per day to the Global AMDAR Program.

Model Number Operation

CRJ-200 33 Regional/Domestic with a few US sites

DHC-8-100/300 51 Regional/Domestic with a few US sites

Total 84

2. DEVELOPMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

2.1 Fleet Expansion and Improved Data Coverage

* Air Canada Jazz:

- To expand ACARS/AMDAR to 25 CRJ-100. Data from the first upgraded aircraft are about to be tested before deployment proceeds.

- To expand ACARS/AMDAR to 15 CRJ-705. A contract to Rockwell-Collins and a quote from them are awaiting a decision by Jazz.

- DHC-8's solution to alleviate temperature bias that depends on phase of flight is on hold until Jazz is ready to upgrade UniLink software and change cabling to bypass FMS which truncates temperature by 0.5oC. MSC may decide to cease DHC-8 data reception and distribution until then.

- Sabre ACARS/AMDAR data Command and Control not yet operational. Next attempt to upgrade the Dispatch Manager at Jazz is 1st week of November.

* First Air:

- Two proof-of-concept TAMDAR/ISAT/Internet systems are now being flown, one on a B737 and the second on an ATR-42. There remain a lot of technical and coordination issues preventing the completion of testing.

- If test is positive, implementation will occur on a fleet of at least 8 ATR-42 (up to 16 aircraft of mixed types) servicing northern Canada

- This is the last year to fund this project through transition funding however renewed interest in the North may present opportunitistic funding

* WestJet:

- WestJet continues to express interest in joining AMDAR imminently.

- WestJet operates a fleet of 68 B737-600/700/800 aircraft (76 by end 2008 and 85 by end 2009), with 89% domestic, 7.5% U.S., and 3.5% international flights.