CommercialSafety: Mode Confusion, Timidity Factors Ever since computers and airplanes came together, modal confusion and pilot perplexity have gone hand in hand. Now and again, they hook up with grave consequences. Case in point is the Jan.…
ATM ModernizationScan Maps for A400Ms Airbus Military SL has contracted EADS Defence Electronics to equip the A400M military transport aircraft with a digital map generator system. The system will be installed in the 188…
ATM ModernizationUWB-Europe is Concerned, Too Europe knows it has to act on impulse--that is, on "impulse radio," otherwise known as carrier-free or ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless technology. The European authorities are taking more time than their U.S. colleagues…
ATM ModernizationWireless Gatelink: Coming of Age Over a decade ago an aircraft industry initiative called gatelink attempted to establish high-speed data transfer while aircraft were docked at the gates. Early concepts ranged from infrared control heads at the…
ATM ModernizationScan ATC Institute The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) has partnered with the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA) to form an industry institute that will support the development of a state-of-the-art air traffic control…
MilitaryPerspectives: Terrain Avoidance: When COTS Won’t Do In the late 1980s the U.S. Navy decided to develop its own ground proximity warning system to prevent flight into terrain. Eventually, the service designed its own terrain awareness warning system, too.…
ATM ModernizationATN: Harmonizing Aero Communications There was a time when life in aeronautical communications was simple. There was analog voice radio or nothing. But how times have changed. Today we face competing technologies, divergent regional solutions, a…
ATM ModernizationBoeing 787: Integration’s Next Step Moving beyond current jetliners in the integration and openness of its architecture, Boeing sees the 787 Dreamliner's avionics suite as a major contributor to the economies it promises with the new mid-…