Spanish/Scandinavian company IMAG has begun testing a system designed to ensure pilots remain “alert and awake” on long-haul flights.
Based on miniature infrared cameras that record and analyse the eye and body movements of the pilot in command, the Watch Eye pilot alertness system is undergoing trials in an Airbus A330/A340 simulator at the SAS Flight Academy in Stockholm, and should begin flight trials in the first half of 2006, says IMAG.
“We’ve completed the development and are now working very hard to perfect the system to ensure there are no nuisance warnings,” says the company.
The sensitivity can be adjusted so that, for example, a pilot can turn round to talk to a crew member without a warning being sounded. The cameras will lose the view of his eyes, but will continue looking at body movements and could be programmed to sound a warning if he failed to turn round within, say, 90s.
According to IMAG, Watch Eye meets the technical and operational requirements of civil aviation authorities. The company adds that airlines such as Scandinavian Airlines, which currently employ three pilots on long-haul routes, could fly with two pilots, using Watch Eye.
“It is the perfect tool to maintain safe two-pilot long-haul operations with a ‘controlled napping’ concept in compliance with the latest [European] JAR regulations,” the company says.
JULIAN MOXON/LONDON
Source: Flight International
