NASA beta-tested a GA version of its Automatic Ground-Collision Avoidance System at AirVenture, bringing in a couple dozen volunteer pilots over the week to fly a simulator connected to a cellphone test app. The software alerts pilots, visually and aurally, when they approach terrain, then offers guidance on how to maneuver to avoid it. NASA‘s Armstrong Flight Research Center, in partnership with other agencies including the Air Force Test Center, developed the technology and hopes to see it applied in a wide array of aircraft. The F-16 fighter has already successfully integrated its Automatic Ground-Collision Avoidance System in the cockpit.
Tests with unmanned aircraft showed that the software “could significantly reduce the number of accidents attributed to CFIT, a leading cause of fatalities in both civil and military aviation that results in roughly 100 deaths each year in the United States alone,” NASA said on its website. “Although cockpit-warning systems have virtually eliminated CFIT for large commercial air carriers, the problem still remains for fighter aircraft, helicopters, and general aviation.”
NASA’s Mark Skoog tells us about the app and the testing in this video.
