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Old 23rd Dec 2013, 20:43
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Shore Guy
 
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Calmcavok, you are certainly correct. I have long viewed surface operations, particularly at night in weather, as the most challenging and dangerous aspect of flight operations.

It is still staggering to me that with all the technological developments in aviation over the decades, most surface navigation is still done by a piece of paper (taxi chart), a compass, and some very rudimentary signage.

Maps showing own ship position are certainly a big help, but are limited in Part 25 aircraft to either a design into the avionics suite or a Class III EFB.
There are runway/taxiway advisement tools from Honeywell's RAAS system. And in the future (I have seen it/taxied with it in a 777 sim) taxi clearance delivered by CPDLC and shown on the moving map display. "Follow the magenta line".

And certainly ATC tools (particularly with ASDE-X) could be programmed to alert ATC personnel to not just possible conflicts or incursions, but inappropriate taxiway and/or runway use by aircraft type/class (Think Comair Lexington Ky.).

Unfortunately, it will take money and mandates to make this happen sooner than later.
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