PreFlight Platform To Combine Safety Critical Weather And Aeronautical Information

Aeropath, a subsidiary of Airways International, and MetService have joined forces to develop a one-stop platform to better support the needs of pilots throughout Aotearoa.

A visual display of PreFlight

Launching in September 2022, PreFlight has been developed by Aeropath, and is the culmination of more than 18 months of work from both organisations in conjunction with stakeholders across the aviation sector.

PreFlight is one of the tangible outputs from the Concept of Operations (ConOps) for future aeronautical information that was developed as part of the New Southern Sky initiative. This initiative is focussed on introducing new technologies and changes to help create a safer, more efficient aviation system.

The PreFlight platform will provide commercial and recreational pilots with safety-critical weather and aeronautical information in a more modern, interactive format and on a mobile-friendly interface. The information provided comes from the MetService (Part 174) and Aeropath (Part 175) organisations.

A premium version of PreFlight will also launch in September. The paid subscription service includes an array of additional features, including VNC charts, advanced briefing features, interactive map overlays of SIGMET and SIGWX phenomena, and webcam data.

Trent Clarke, Head of Aeropath says; “We are excited to make PreFlight available and in doing so take one step further towards putting the right information in the hands of those who need it, faster and in a simpler, more engaging way.”

Stephen Hunt, Chief Executive at MetService adds; “PreFlight represents a significant step forward in the delivery of both weather and aeronautical data available to assist pilots. The Aeropath team have developed a great platform that integrates both vital data sources onto one platform to create efficiencies for the wider sector, and we are excited to be working in partnership with them.”

In the coming months MetService and Aeropath will support the aviation sector to ensure pilots understand how to operate and utilise the new features of PreFlight.

PreFlight will eventually replace both the MetFlight GA and MetFlight commercial products delivered by MetService, and the briefing component of the IFIS site provided by Airways. MetJet will continue to be available to customers requiring high level meteorological information, custom products, packaging and scheduling functionality.

More information will follow in the coming weeks, but in the interim pilots are encouraged to visit www.gopreflight.co.nz to create an account for their personal use. Customers wanting to use PreFlight for commercial purposes can contact the team at MetService through aviationsales@metservice.com. MetService will contact existing MetFlight commercial customers individually to arrange account access.

For more information, please visit www.about.metservice.com/preflight.

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