Flight Attendant Turbulence Safety Watch

Apple Watch + iPhone companion for rapid, in-flight turbulence injury reporting.
Industry
Aviation
Role
Sole designer, researcher, UX Strategist
Client
Delta Air Lines
Year
2020
Challenge
Accurate injury reporting is the best method to prevent future injuries. Injury times are cross-referenced with flight telemetry data to understand when its safe to have FAs walking around the cabin. The current system of reporting using a post-flight web form meant turbulence injuries were underreported because flight attendants had no in‑the‑moment tool. Additionally, reported times could vary wildly, signficantly reducing the accuracy of the data.
Approach
We chose Apple Watch for immediate, on‑wrist access during an injury event. I designed an offline‑first report flow with an option to set a reminder to complete the injury report post-flight on the companion iPhone app. I partnered with Apple to stay tight to HIG and validated the flow with flight attendants.
Outcomes
Designs were approved and deployed fleet‑wide. The solution created a faster, more reliable way to log safety events in the moment and was anecdotally supported to have prevented a significant number of injuries in an operating environment where even a single injury can be life-threatening.
Flight Attendants
29K
Injuries Reported
230
Injuries Prevented
>50/yr
Key Activities

• Stakeholder alignment with Flight Ops

• Workshop facilitation

• Complete phone and watch design with on-brand design system

• Partnered with Apple designers for perfect HIG compliance

• Validation with flight attendants