Rannoch Corporation has successfully completed the initial testing of its PathProx® runway incursion alerting system for General Aviation (GA) aircraft.
Airport surface runway incursions have been identified by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as one of the most significant safety hazards in civil aviation. U.S. runway incursion statistics indicate that GA aircraft are involved in incursions at a rate disproportionately higher than commercial aircraft. This includes several collisions between GA aircraft in recent years caused by runway incursions.
PathProx®, developed by Rannoch to reduce incursions, is an aircraft-based alerting system that provides runway incursion alerts directly to pilots.
Originally developed and tailored for commercial aircraft operations, PathProx® has undergone a series of simulator and flight tests conducted by NASA over the last five years. Over the last two years, under contract to NASA, Rannoch incorporated changes to the system to adapt it to GA operations. Recent test results have validated the design of the GA version of PathProx®.
The GA testing consisted of a series of flight and simulator tests at Ohio University’s Snyder Field Airport in Athens, Ohio, and at NASA Research Center in Langley, VA. Using an Ohio University King Air C90 and a Rannoch test vehicle, various runway incursion scenarios were evaluated. The aircraft and test vehicle were each equipped with PathProx®, a prototype Electronic Flight Bag (EFB), and an airport surface moving map display, provided by Strategic Aeronautics Corporation. In addition to displaying ownership and traffic information, the EFB was used to annunciate the PathProx® incursion alerts. Using different GA cockpit displays, 16 subject pilots flew a variety of runway incursion scenarios in the simulator at Langley.
The recent testing and analyses and that performed over the last five years has demonstrated significant aviation safety benefits with PathProx® equipage for both commercial and GA surface operations. Improvements in operations provided by PathProx® include situational awareness, self-separation, and conflict detection and alerting without reliance on ground infrastructure and Air Traffic Control.
“The recent testing and analyses and that performed over the last five years has demonstrated significant aviation safety benefits with PathProx® equipage for both commercial and GA surface operations,” stated Rick Cassell, Rannoch’s Director of Safety Systems. “Improvements in operations provided by PathProx® include situational awareness, self-separation, and conflict detection and alerting without reliance on ground infrastructure and Air Traffic Control. Commercial operations in the United States involve 5,000 aircraft at 500 airports. Applying this technology to GA extends the benefits to 200,000 aircraft at several thousand airports.”