SafeSkies – Elevating Aviation Safety & Communication

Inspiration

SafeSkies was created in response to the growing demand for improved safety, communication, and transparency in the aviation industry. With incidents of delayed safety updates and communication gaps during emergencies, we wanted to build a platform that keeps passengers informed with real-time safety updates and insights into past incidents, enhances understanding of safety protocols through interactive guides, and provides unique support through Turbie, the AI travel buddy. Turbie helps anxious flyers by offering distractions during turbulence and answering questions before flights. Additionally, the app enables passengers to connect directly with emergency contacts, sharing flight details and real-time status updates, while increasing transparency by offering access to critical information like the plane's last maintenance check. By combining these features, SafeSkies aims to empower passengers with the information they need to feel more confident, connected, and safe throughout their journey.

What It Does

SafeSkies ensures passengers feel prepared and reassured throughout their journey by providing real-time safety updates, detailed safety protocols for different situations, and key insights into their flight.

Key features include:

Plane Details & Maintenance Info: Passengers can access transparent information about their aircraft, including its last maintenance check, to feel confident about its reliability and safety.
Interactive Safety Protocols: A step-by-step guide to help passengers understand emergency procedures, tailored to specific situations like turbulence, delays, or other flight disruptions.
Real-Time Incident Alerts: Notifies passengers of any ongoing incidents or safety updates, ensuring they are always in the loop.
Emergency Contact Integration: Keeps loved ones informed by sharing real-time flight updates and ensuring passengers’ safety is communicated during emergencies.
Turbie, the AI Travel Buddy:
- Distractions during turbulence to reduce anxiety.
- Pre-boarding Q&A to answer flight-related concerns.
- Safety insights on airline incidents and protocols, giving passengers confidence and clarity before and during their flight.

By focusing on flight safety, transparency, and real-time updates, SafeSkies enhances the passenger experience, ensuring they stay informed, secure, and supported throughout their journey.

How We Built It

We designed SafeSkies with simplicity, reliability, and accessibility in mind to address key concerns from passengers. After conducting extensive research, both in-depth and through user surveys, we crafted the app with a focus on providing real-time safety updates, transparency, and emotional support for anxious travelers.

Key features include:

Real-time incident alerts to keep passengers updated on ongoing safety situations.
Interactive safety protocol guides that educate passengers on emergency procedures.
Emergency contact integration to share flight details and status updates with loved ones.
Turbie, the AI travel buddy, designed to support anxious flyers by providing:
- Distractions during turbulence to ease anxiety.
- Pre-boarding Q&A to answer concerns before takeoff.
- Real-time safety insights about airlines and in-flight situations.

User Research Synthesis:

To ensure we built an app that genuinely meets passenger needs, we first conducted a survey with 13 respondents from various locations and age groups, mostly in the 18-24 age range (70%). These participants typically fly a few times a year (70%) and highlighted their biggest concerns, including turbulence (70%), fear of accidents or malfunctions (60%), and difficulty contacting loved ones during emergencies (40%).

Key Findings:

Flight Safety & Communication Concerns:
- Real-time safety updates (70%) and clear emergency instructions (60%) were major concerns. Many passengers felt airlines were not providing updates fast enough during emergencies.
Information Access & Preferences:
- 50% rely on airline apps or websites for updates, while 30% depend on crew announcements.
- 70% of respondents admitted to feeling anxious during unexpected situations, showing a need for more reassurance during turbulence and emergencies.
Emergency Contact Preferences:
- 60% wanted automatic updates for their emergency contacts, ensuring their loved ones are notified about flight status without needing to take action.
Desired Improvements:
- 60% requested faster and clearer updates from airlines, emphasizing a desire for less technical jargon and greater transparency during incidents.

How SafeSkies Addresses These Needs:

Based on these findings, we focused on creating an app that prioritizes:

Real-time updates on flight status.
Clear and simple communication, avoiding technical jargon, so users can quickly understand safety measures.
Emergency contact integration that sends automatic updates in case of delays or incidents.
Educational features to explain safety protocols, giving users peace of mind by understanding the how to stay safe in certain events.
Turbie, the AI travel buddy, to provide emotional support:
- Offering distractions during turbulence to help users stay calm.
- Answering pre-boarding questions to reduce flight-related anxiety.
- Providing real-time insights and reassurance about flight conditions and safety measures, helping users feel more secure throughout their journey.

SafeSkies is designed to reassure travelers throughout their entire journey, from pre-flight to landing, ensuring they stay informed, prepared, and supported.

Challenges We Ran Into

Some of the challenges we faced included ensuring real-time data accuracy during flight incidents and making the app easy to use in stressful situations. While the safety and transparency aspects of the app were in place, we realized that the increasing number of reports and in-flight information might actually cause more stress for users. We wanted to help users feel reassured, not overwhelmed. To address this, we introduced Turbie, the AI companion, to provide emotional support and reassurance during turbulence and other stressful moments. Additionally, we integrated the safety protocol feature with incident reports, offering users a step-by-step guidance on what to do in various situations, ensuring that they felt informed and in control.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud of building a user-friendly app that empowers passengers to make informed decisions in real time during emergencies. The integration of safety protocols, real-time updates, and emergency contact sharing provides a unique and impactful solution. We're also proud of how the app can increase transparency and trust between passengers, airlines, and authorities.

What We Learned

Through this project, we learned the importance of clear communication during emergencies, how technology can streamline crisis management, and the need for global accessibility in aviation safety tools. We also gained valuable insights into the aviation industry’s safety protocols and how to incorporate them into a digital solution. Additionally, we recognized how crucial it is for passengers to have more transparency with their airlines, especially regarding real-time updates, maintenance checks, and the overall safety of their flight experience. This understanding shaped our approach, ensuring SafeSkies provides both reassurance and transparency to passengers.

As one of our first hackathon, it was a lot to accomplish in such a short period of time. However, we learned that better time management and prioritizing tasks would be key for future projects. We are excited to take these learnings forward and refine our process for the next opportunity.

What's Next for SafeSkies

Moving forward, we plan to partner with airlines and aviation authorities to integrate SafeSkies into in-flight systems, expanding its reach and usability. We also aim to enhance real-time incident prediction features and explore further global partnerships to provide more comprehensive safety and communication solutions worldwide. Additionally, we plan to expand the platform to allow passengers to share reviews and experiences from past flights, giving airlines valuable insights into customer satisfaction and helping them understand passenger needs better. This will also encourage airlines to take more accountability in addressing concerns, improving their services, and building stronger relationships with travelers.