Web Manuals has launched a search tool using artificial intelligence (AI) for pilots’ flight manuals. According to the Swedish company, flight crewmembers will be able to ask questions via the platform to get descriptive answers from their manuals, helping them to quickly make well-informed operational decisions and potentially avoid flight diversions and delays.
The Amelia AI system integrates natural language processing that can accelerate the process of understanding factors such as aircraft faults to support decisions over airworthiness. Once initial information from the manuals has been shared, pilots can continue to interrogate the platform to find out more details and assess the responses.
For instance, Amelia AI can help the crew understand whether there are any applicable safety notices or bulletins that are relevant to a particular flight procedure they are working on. The pilots then get a summarized response based on the manuals along with sources referencing relevant content from the documents.
As part of its security protections, the system only conducts searches within the documentation available to the user and relevant to their specific needs. It does not access any external public data. All responses provide specific references to parts of the manuals to ensure that users can validate the search results.
Malmö-based Web Manuals said it plans to roll out other AI-based features for its services. Amelia AI will be released through the Web Manuals Core 2024.3 update, with additional features to be announced later this year.
“Web Manuals’ Amelia AI document search system not only revolutionizes information retrieval processes but also underlines our ongoing commitment to delivering exceptional value and user satisfaction,” said the company’s chief technology officer, Richard Sandström. “This first feature of Amelia makes navigating through large amounts of operational and company manuals much more manageable and time efficient, with data retrieval within seconds.”
Last week, the company announced the acquisition of another Swedish company called ManualAI which it said will help it to capitalize on the advantages AI can bring to digital documentation management.