Image to right: Forward-looking sensor including radar and LIDAR installed in the nose of a NASA research aircraft as part of the Turbulence Prediction and Warning Systems (TPAWS) flight tests.

Atmospheric turbulence encounters are the leading cause of injuries to passengers and flight crews in non-fatal airline accidents. Turbulence encounters are hazardous; they cost airlines money and time in the form of re-routing flights, late arrivals, additional inspections, and maintenance for aircraft.

When NASA began work on the Turbulence Prediction and Warning System (TPAWS) airborne radar, the industry was all ears. While today's aircraft carry Doppler radar that scouts for turbulence based on wind shear, TPAWS enhances the radar by sensing and recording additional factors such as the type of aircraft, the airspeed, weight of the craft, and altitude. Analysis of those factors together provides a customized, more accurate and reliable prediction of how that particular aircraft at that particular moment will be impacted by turbulence in its path.

Shortly after experiencing a severe patch of turbulence during a flight test, a NASA research pilot said his confidence in TPAWS had "gone up dramatically" because, while the aircraft's weather radar had not shown anything, the TPAWS display in the back of the craft showed rough skies ahead.

TPAWS Team
NASA Langley Research Center, Delta Airlines, AeroTech Research, Rockwell Collins