A flightdeck decision-support system for pilots of large commercial aircraft is to be tested in a simulator in the second half of this year by Airbus.
The software algorithms for a system that could advise pilots on go-around decisions have been developed by French aerospace agency ONERA and Airbus under a research project.
With inputs such as airspeed, altitude and a calculated touchdown point, the computer can determine a final approach and landing safety margin.
To develop the algorithms to calculate this margin, the doctoral study had to identify approach characteristics and select the criteria that could allow difficult high-energy landing situations to be anticipated.
"We will use Airbus simulators first and then eventually research aircraft. We will use different pilots and examine their responses," says decision-support algorithm researcher Florian Constans, a doctoral student at France's national aeronautical and space university SUPAERO.
Researchers looked at four possible scenarios for decision support to avoid high-energy landings: presenting the information on-screen an alarm and on-screen information the alarm and an opportunity for pilots to switch to autopilot and a fully-automated system without pilot involvement.
The system giving pilots the opportunity switch to autopilot has been selected for the simulator tests.
NASA has also been involved in related studies in co-operation with ONERA and Airbus.
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Source: Flight International