AARON KARP / WASHINGTON DC
The US Federal Aviation Administration has awarded Boeing a 21-month, $23 million contract to demonstrate satellite-based technology to give air traffic controllers greater information if an aircraft is hijacked.
The company hopes to begin demonstrations using its Connexion One broadband satellite communications test aircraft, a 737-400, late this year.
Boeing Air Traffic Management (ATM) president John Hayhurst says the company will match the $23 million with an investment "of similar funds" from its shareholders to help facilitate the work. The company will demonstrate technology that could provide controllers with "real-time and continuous situational awareness" of an aircraft and allow ATC to notify authorities if an aircraft is hijacked. This could include live video feeds from onboard cabin surveillance cameras.
US Senator Patty Murray, who is backing the programme, says: "Today, we can't tell as quickly as we would like whether an aircraft is deviating from its flightpath. But with this new system, air traffic controllers will know in real time of any changes in the flight pattern."
Source: Flight International
