United Airlines Ballast Management Wireframes

Project details

  • United Airlines reported to our team that they lost an estimated 5-10 ballasts a day. Over the course of a year, this can exponentially raise costs. Whether they were misplaced, broken, or “borrowed” by another airline, United Airlines needed a way to track these ballasts. At the time, the only tracking they were doing was manual emails or notes handed to flight crews, resulting in miscommunication between hand offs.

  • I was brought onto the project to create a concept for a ballast tracking system dashboard. They had the technology on the back end, but needed a way to visually manage everything. The plan was to chip all the United Airlines Ballasts with RFID tags for easier tracking, but were not sure how to visually represent it all in a dashboard.

  • I designed the end-to-end UX for United Airlines’ Ballast System Tool, creating five detailed personas, eight data-rich dashboards, and three mobile interfaces to support both flight operations and ground crews. I built a tailored design system for the project to keep the experience consistent and scalable. Throughout the process, I worked closely with engineers and stakeholders to ensure the tool was intuitive, reliable, and ready for real-world use in a high-stakes environment.

  • The redesigned ballast management tool was estimated to reduce manual entry errors by over 40%, enabling crews to calculate weight and balance faster and with greater accuracy. Operational efficiency improved through real-time data updates, cutting pre-flight preparation time and enhancing safety compliance across the fleet.