EVAS Worldwide's development of the Emergency Vision Assurance System (EVAS) earned the company the award for Training and Safety.
The Swissair Boeing MD-11 crash off Nova Scotia in 1998 focused industry attention on the hazards associated with smoke in the cockpit.
When smoke fills a flight deck the crew have desperately little time to don oxygen masks and smoke goggles. And then they struggle to read their instruments as they manage the emergency and fly the aircraft to a safe landing. EVAS, manufactured by VisionSafe and marketed by EVAS Worldwide, is designed to make this crucial task easier by providing some visibility in the cockpit regardless of smoke density. The simple system provides volumes of clear air through which the pilot can see instruments and the outside world. Some 1,000 EVAS have now been built and sold. Two major fractional-ownership operators - Executive Jet and Raytheon Travel Air - are outfitting their fleets, and the first scheduled carrier has ordered the system.
Finalists were Bombardier Aerospace Defence Services and the Canadian Armed Forces for the launch of NATO flying training in Canada; the Flight Safety Foundation for its toolkit to reduce the incidence of approach and landing accidents; and the UK Civil Aviation Authority for its study of the effects of mobile phones on aircraft systems.
Source: Flight Daily News
