Alaska Airlines is to be the first air transport operator to equip its fleet with Honeywell's Runway Awareness and Advisory System (RAAS), a new safety system aimed at reducing runway incursions and other accidents on taxiways.
Alaska operates a fleet of 108 Boeing 737 and MD80 aircraft and deliveries are expected to start later this year.
RAAS is currently hosted on Honeywell's Mark V and Mark VII enhanced ground proximity warning systems (EGPWS) and uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) and an internal runway database to monitor the aircraft's location on or near the airport. The system then provides aural advisory messages.
Warnings
These warnings sound if the aircraft approaches a runway, either from the air or on the ground; is aligned on a runway for take-off or taxi, is on a runway that is too short for a safe take-off or landing; or if the pilot attempts to take off from a taxiway.
The system also calls out the runway distance remaining during an aborted take-off or while landing, or a warning if the aircraft sits on the runway for an extended period of time.
Kevin Finan, Alaska's vice-president for Flight Operations, says: "Honeywell's new RAAS provides an additional safety margin to help reduce runway incursions, one of the main Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board initiatives."
Source: Flight Daily News
