Winner: The Flight Data Company
Location West Drayton, Middlesex
Achievement Making flight-data analysis accessible and affordable running on a PCModern airliners generate a wealth of flight data, which if properly interpreted can prove invaluable in enabling carriers to improve safety and reduce costs. The difficulties lie in transforming the raw data into useful information, which is why in 1996 the Flight Data Company (FDC) launched GRAF for Windows(GfW).
The system will run on any standard personal-computer (PC)platform, rather than traditional high-cost minicomputers, and presents the user with a familiar windows-style interface. The aim has been to make analysis of potentially important safety and operational data more accessible and affordable to a much wider range of airlines - an advance applauded by the judging panel.
Although the system is designed to be cost-effective for smaller operators, FDC has built in processing power to handle the high throughputs of data also being demanded by major national carriers. The system is capable of running all analyses automatically at the time of replay, so removing the need for time-consuming and expensive operator intervention.
FDC has already built up an extensive user list ranging from major carriers such as British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Swissair, through to small to medium-sized operators such as British Midland and Wideroe. It is also being used in the USA in support of the Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) programme.
Source: Flight International
