Winner: AlliedSignal Aerospace, Commercial Avionics Systems
Location Redmond, Washington, USA
Achievement Pioneering work on the enhanced ground-proximity warning system (EGPWS) in the fight to reduce fatal aviation accidents. Aviation safety experts have long targeted controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) as the leading cause of aircraft accidents. Between 1988 and 1995 alone CFIT accidents claimed the lives of 2,200 passengers - close to half of all fatalities.
To help provide a solution, AlliedSignal began pioneering work on ground-proximity warning systems (GPWS) during the 1970s. Such technology has already proved its worth. Since being made compulsory on board jet-powered passenger airliners by the FAA in the early 1980s and later made a standard by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the number of CFIT accidents has visibly slowed. Accidents had averaged 22 a year, but that number dropped to ten in the decade which followed the arrival of the GPWS.
AlliedSignal has now followed on with development of new enchanced GPWS system which aims to cut CFIT accidents still further. The EGPWS, which won US certification in 1996, integrates the latest advances in navigation and terrain-database technology, together with the traditional benefits of GPWS.
By doing this, the new system provides a full 60s advanced warning of hazardous terrain. A conventional GPWS may give pilots as little as 10s to take avoiding action. The system is also the first to allow pilots to select a visual display of hazardous terrain below and ahead of the aircraft - crucial in poor visibility or darkness.
The Awards judges believe that the EGPWS represents an important step towards cutting accident rates. Systems have already been ordered by Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines, while the recent US Presidential Commission on air safety recommended that EGPWS should be installed in all commercial and military passenger aircraft.
Source: Flight International