The Snowbird Story
In 2012, the operations team at the Region of Waterloo International Airport had to prepare to switch from faxing (who remembers faxing?) runway surface condition (RSC) reports, to online submission via NAV Canada’s new SNOWiz system. With faxing, RSCs could take as long as ten minutes to appear on the NOTAM system to be accessed by pilots, by which time the condition report data may already be obsolete. Online submission would reduce the time to mere seconds. As a result, the airport was faced with the prospect of having to upgrade their entire existing RSC reporting system – which consisted of laptops in the inspection vehicles, radio data transmitters and a computer base station connected to the fax line.
The airport, located in Waterloo Region – an area well known for innovation and technology – had already begun to use iPads in their inspection vehicles to record daily airfield inspections and work orders. The question was raised whether an app could be built which would allow staff to prepare and submit the reports. Through a member of the airport’s noise management committee, airport staff were connected with two graduates of the University of Waterloo’s Computer Science program: Ernest Surudo and Vlado Jokic.
Ernest and Vlado were provided NAV Canada’s SNOWiz specifications and the Canadian regulations pertaining to RSC. As development progressed, they visited the airport to obtain input and feedback on the user interface from the airport’s operations team, since they would be the ones using the app on a daily basis.
When the first version was completed, it was so exciting to be able to submit a report and receive a notification right on the iPad screen that it had been received by NAV Canada within fractions of a second, and was live on the NOTAM network!
Since then, Snowbird has been spun off into its own company, and the product is now used at airports across Canada. It continues to be kept current with changes to regulations to ensure it meets airports’ safety needs.
At the time of this writing, Snowbird is being prepared for ICAO’s new Global Reporting Format (GRF), which becomes applicable worldwide on November 4, 2021. In fact, Snowbird already allows users to report runway friction values in thirds, which will help to prepare operations staff for GRF.
Now is the perfect time to schedule a demo, and see how easy it is to make the switch from your legacy system. Learn more at www.snowbird.aero or call me to discuss your safety, training and winter operations needs.
Currie Russell, A.A.E.