Confidently going against the wind

A growing airport in Indonesia bolsters windshear awareness and safety with Vaisala technology.
 

A busy, windy airport

Just off the coast of the Java sea, Jakarta (Soekarno-Hatta) International Airport is a major hub serving the greater Jakarta area in Indonesia. BMKG (Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency in Indonesia) works diligently to ensure a safe and efficient flight experience at Jakarta Airport, and that means flying against the wind. This is one windy airport, with frequent winds and windshear events that air traffic control and pilots must navigate around on a daily basis. 

Windshear puts lives at risk and can lead to crippling financial damages. It remains one of the most dangerous – and difficult to assess – weather phenomena in aviation. With growing passenger traffic, BMKG decided to bolster their Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) with a comprehensive windshear detection and alert system.

Going above ground level

Jakarta Airport had a single-technology low level windshear alert system (LLWAS) in place, including anemometers on high masts around the two landing strips, but there were still crucial gaps in wind data in the immediate and surrounding airfield. 

“One of the most important weather components in aviation is the wind where it is needed by the time the plane lands or takes off, which is always against the wind direction. For this reason, it is very necessary to have tools to detect how fast the wind speed is such as windshear detection through lidar,” said BMKG Deputy for Meteorology Guswanto. 

For complete windshear awareness, BMKG needed a solution that would include a combination of lidar, radar and accurate, real-time reporting. They also sought technology that would be integrated with their existing AWOS and LLWAS.
 

Unparalleled windshear awareness

Working with local Vaisala partner PT Terrindo Bumi Raya, BMKG bolstered safety and efficiency with the Vaisala AviMet Windshear Alert System – powerful, dependable, and sustainable windshear technology. The solution detects and delivers crucial information about the windshear effect and its unpredictable changes in wind speed and direction in a timely manner, alerting immediately when and where windshear occurs and when the threat is over.

Trusted in several industries worldwide, Vaisala WindCube Scan Airport Edition, which you can learn more about in this webinar, provides full, long-range, 3D wind awareness – giving airport decision-makers the data they need for safety and efficiency. The 360° scanning lidar is proven lidar technology that provides crucial detection of windshear, 3D wind contextual information, and wind inversion detection. A robust design that requires almost no human intervention after deployment, WindCube Scan is easy to install and maintain. 

“It is very effective to be used to detect windshear around the airport, especially for takeoff and landing. This tool can detect windshear up to 10 km from its placement location,” remarked Achadi Subarkah of BMKG. “WindCube Scan is set up to rotate at a 3° elevation because it’s the slope for takeoff and landing.”

The airport gained the best possible coverage of every kind of windshear event with the addition of Vaisala X-band Weather Radar WRS400. The X-band weather radar boasts excellent accuracy and sensitivity to deliver precise, high-resolution awareness of the key weather phenomena that affect aviation operations most including windshear, hail, thunderstorms, microbursts, and freezing rain. The solution is essential, especially in unpredictable windshear conditions at Jakarta. 
 

A dependable, reliable and sustainable solution

With the solution in place, Jakarta Airport decision-makers can reliably perceive windshear dangers, alert the appropriate personnel and take action before accidents happen. Air traffic controllers and pilots have the information they need to navigate safely at the airport, especially during takeoffs and landings. 

BMKG validated WindCube Scan with external tools and determined the device provides excellent data quality around the clock, noting that the data is exceptionally good because the data keeps coming in continuously.

After reviewing the entire weather detection system, BMKG determined that Jakarta Airport is ready for any winds that may blow in their direction. 

Further information: vaisala.com/aviation