Weather today: IndiGo steps in to help IMD prepare reports

Amid the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, IndiGo said on Tuesday its aircraft will provide crucial data on wind, humidity and temperature during all flight operations to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to help it make accurate weather predictions.

"The data, which is imperative for accurate predictions of weather, has been unavailable to the IMD since a majority of flights are out of operation due to the nationwide lockdown, coupled with staff constraints," the budget carrier said in a press release.

IndiGo said it has incorporated a plan for its pilots to report high level wind and temperatures at different stages of a flight as desired by the IMD across all flight operations.

"The pilot reports will capture and share observations at cruising altitude midway of the destination, at cruising altitude just before start of descent, near 10,000 feet, near 5,000 feet....To support the Wx (weather) forecast model," the airline said.

India has been under lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of coronavirus. All scheduled commercial flight operations have been suspended for this period. However, cargo flights, medical evacuation flights and special flights permitted by the aviation regulator DGCA are allowed to operate.

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Ashim Mittra, Senior Vice President, Flight Operations, IndiGo, said, "We have made pilot reporting compulsory on our flight operations. We will share observations from every flight within 2 hours to the IMD headquarters, so that they can use this data for the benefit of the nation."