LatviaCalling
20th Aug 2004, 23:57
Below is an extract from Jane's regarding possible safety measures to prevent another 9/11 and goes further into possible missile attacks.
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Executive Overview: Jane's Avionics
By Edward Downs, Editor, Jane's Avionics
Many inherent design features and elements of modern airliners' avionic suites could form an effective defence system against hijacking and the use of the aircraft as a de facto missile.
For example, during August 2003, Honeywell announced that it was working on a development of its Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) which would allow the Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) of a modern Fly-By-Wire (FBW) airliner to intervene and manoeuvre the aircraft away from a catastrophic crash into an urban area. Honeywell were also quoted as saying the system could be extended to incorporate an air-to-air collision avoidance capability through the development of integral Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) technology.
Around the same time, Boeing's Phantom Works and the University of California announced a collaborative project to develop aircraft avionics to prevent an aircraft flying into restricted airspace through the employment of pre-programmed, so-called `Soft Walls', placed around major cities and other vulnerable and/or sensitive areas. Due to the high inherent accuracy of current GPS/INS, these designated areas could be close to legitimate aircraft zones, such as airport terminal areas, thus easing the problem of many major airports, which are situated on the outskirts of large cities, as in the case of London Heathrow or New York John F Kennedy. If the aircraft approached one of these `Soft Walls', the aircraft Flight Control Computer(s) (FCC) would intervene and steer the aircraft away, opposing any further commands by the pilot to resume any course which would breach the zone.
While such a system would be far simpler than utilising ground controlled intervention via datalink, it should also be made immune from software `glitch', since it would be more than a little annoying to find the aircraft steering away from the approach zone to the intended landing airport due to a navigation malfunction shifting a `Soft Wall' over the airport!
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the missile attack on a Israeli Arkiav flight in Mombassa during November 2002 and the increasing number of terrorist alerts during 2003/04, including the grounding of a number of Air France services to Los Angeles and the multiple cancellation of British Airways flight 223 from London Heathrow to Washington, the subject of defending large civilian aircraft against missile attack is a high priority to governments, airport authorities and airline operators. Accordingly, much effort on the part of (military) manufacturers of missile countermeasures systems is in anticipation of large orders for the world's airline fleets.
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Executive Overview: Jane's Avionics
By Edward Downs, Editor, Jane's Avionics
Many inherent design features and elements of modern airliners' avionic suites could form an effective defence system against hijacking and the use of the aircraft as a de facto missile.
For example, during August 2003, Honeywell announced that it was working on a development of its Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) which would allow the Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) of a modern Fly-By-Wire (FBW) airliner to intervene and manoeuvre the aircraft away from a catastrophic crash into an urban area. Honeywell were also quoted as saying the system could be extended to incorporate an air-to-air collision avoidance capability through the development of integral Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) technology.
Around the same time, Boeing's Phantom Works and the University of California announced a collaborative project to develop aircraft avionics to prevent an aircraft flying into restricted airspace through the employment of pre-programmed, so-called `Soft Walls', placed around major cities and other vulnerable and/or sensitive areas. Due to the high inherent accuracy of current GPS/INS, these designated areas could be close to legitimate aircraft zones, such as airport terminal areas, thus easing the problem of many major airports, which are situated on the outskirts of large cities, as in the case of London Heathrow or New York John F Kennedy. If the aircraft approached one of these `Soft Walls', the aircraft Flight Control Computer(s) (FCC) would intervene and steer the aircraft away, opposing any further commands by the pilot to resume any course which would breach the zone.
While such a system would be far simpler than utilising ground controlled intervention via datalink, it should also be made immune from software `glitch', since it would be more than a little annoying to find the aircraft steering away from the approach zone to the intended landing airport due to a navigation malfunction shifting a `Soft Wall' over the airport!
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the missile attack on a Israeli Arkiav flight in Mombassa during November 2002 and the increasing number of terrorist alerts during 2003/04, including the grounding of a number of Air France services to Los Angeles and the multiple cancellation of British Airways flight 223 from London Heathrow to Washington, the subject of defending large civilian aircraft against missile attack is a high priority to governments, airport authorities and airline operators. Accordingly, much effort on the part of (military) manufacturers of missile countermeasures systems is in anticipation of large orders for the world's airline fleets.