Software Detects and Summarizes Weather Patterns for Dispatchers

In an intriguing technological development for pilots and dispatchers, the Weather Company (TWC) has debuted its Smart NOTAMs software. The system leverages artificial intelligence to track trends, summarize points, and spotlight priority information within airport notices, aiming to streamline preflight decision-making.

“Smart NOTAMs use our proprietary AI system, which guides powerful foundation models with aviation-specific logic, to intelligently categorize, prioritize and summarize what matters most,” said Ravi Vanmali, Vice President of Aviation at TWC. “It’s a smarter, safer way to prepare for a flight or gain situational awareness for an airport. We are proud to be the first weather provider to offer this innovation to our airline partners.”

At its core, Smart NOTAMs sorts and groups notices by category, including airports, airspace, equipment, and navigation aids, then translates them into plain language. The system doesn’t just flag keywords; it processes context to prioritize the most operationally relevant items.

The company says Smart NOTAMs processes even large floods of notices in near real-time, which becomes crucial during summer when pop-up storms and flight restrictions plague the airspace. Airlines like Breeze Airways are already testing the feature to speed up preflight checks, though it claims to be a helpful addition for operators of all sizes.

“Any aviation operation that values efficiency and safety can benefit, whether that’s a commercial airline managing hundreds of flights a day or a private aviation firm operating with leaner teams,” Vanmali explained.

TWC also stresses that, despite the system using AI-generated summaries, original NOTAMs are never removed from the system. Each summary links back to the source notice, so pilots and dispatchers can verify details at any time. As an additional layer of visibility, the company has implemented time monitoring, automated scoring to catch errors, and user feedback loops.

Operators using Maverick Dispatch, TWC’s cloud-based dispatch platform, can utilize Smart NOTAMs with no new installation or training. It is already available in beta and will expand to other products, including the Pilotbrief iPad app, later in 2025.

FMI: www.weathercompany.com