Honeywell Sidebar:
A Smart Flight Path
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Evan Kafka
Honeywell’s SmartPathTM Precision Landing System was FAA-certified last fall as the first-ever ground-based landing system, according to Tim Mahoney, president and CEO of Honeywell Aerospace. He explains that existing air-traffic management — much of which dates from pre-WWII — relies on instrument landing technology housed in each individual cockpit. Landings require a three-point approach: Planes first fly parallel to the airstrip, then line up with a perpendicular pass and finally set down on the runway. Airports equipped with SmartPath can direct planes through a single, curved approach. The technology, says Mahoney, will shorten flight times, prevent stacking and airport circling, and significantly reduce delays. Now used by eight airports, including Newark Liberty International and ones in Australia and Germany, SmartPath could achieve a fuel savings of 10 percent to 15 percent for each airplane that uses it, says Mahoney.
But SmartParth is just the beginning, Mahoney says, noting that Honeywell and others are working to modernize the entire air-traffic management system. Some technology, such as sophisticated avionics that electronically replicate visual conditions for pilots in any weather, is looking to make cockpits smarter, leading to safer air travel and increasing the capacity of the skies. Honeywell reports that it is the only U.S. partner in the new Single European Sky Air Traffic Management research consortium, whose mission is to identify the building blocks of Europe’s next-generation air traffic management system. “The goal,” explains Mahoney, “is to handle three times more traffic by 2020, improve safety by 10 times, reduce air traffic management costs by half, cut the environmental impact by 10 percent and cut fuel consumption by 10 percent to 15 percent.”
