Lufthansa, Honeywell, and Airbus combine technologies to reduce runway incursions, boost safety
COLOGNE, Germany, 26 July 2016. Officials at Lufthansa Group, Honeywell Aerospace, and Airbus have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly develop a runway safety solution combining Airbus’ Runway Overrun Prevention System (ROPS) and Honeywell’s SmartLanding technologies for Lufthansa’s fleet of aircraft.
This goal is to combine the strengths of ROPS and SmartLanding technologies, ensure its availability for a maximum number of aircraft types, and set a higher standard for runway safety. Lufthansa engineers will contribute to the solution design and evaluation with the involvement of flight crews from the early stage of development.
The ROPS performance-based alerting system developed by Airbus assists crews in preventing runway overruns. Certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), ROPS is in operation on approximately 430 aircraft, including A320, A330, A350, and A380 commercial passenger jets, and has been selected by operators of 1,500 aircraft to be delivered. ROPS is included in the solutions portfolio of Airbus’ wholly-owned Flight Operations and Air Traffic Management subsidiary NAVBLUE.
Honeywell’s SmartLanding system reduces the risk of runway excursion by alerting pilots if the aircraft is approaching the runway too high, too fast, or is not configured properly for landing. SmartLanding is a software enhancement to Honeywell's Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS), installed on more than 30,000 airline and business aviation aircraft. Through a software upgrade to EGPWS, SmartLanding improves pilot situational awareness and helps break the chain of events that can lead to a runway excursion, by providing aural and visual alerts upon approach only if the aircraft has not met established safety criteria, officials describe.
Airbus, a division of Airbus Group, is the global commercial aircraft manufacturer with the most modern, comprehensive, and efficient family of airliners, ranging in capacity from 100 to more than 600 seats. Airbus has sold more than 16,500 aircraft to around 400 customers and, provides customer support and training through an expanding international network.
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Courtney E. Howard | Chief Editor, Intelligent Aerospace
Courtney enjoys writing about all things high-tech in PennWell’s burgeoning Aerospace and Defense Group, which encompasses Intelligent Aerospace and Military & Aerospace Electronics. She’s also a self-proclaimed social-media maven, mil-aero nerd, and avid avionics and space geek. Connect with Courtney at [email protected], @coho on Twitter, on LinkedIn, and on Google+.
