EU Funded Research: Safe Automatic Flight Back and Landing of Aircraft

[LH2]

Hi fellows, just something I stumbled upon while looking for funding for something else (no, not my ATPL :})

Cordis - Technology Marketplace: Safe Automatic Flight Back and Landing of Aircraft (http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=NEW_PROJ_TM&ACTION=D&DOC=2&CAT=PROJ&QUERY=1192420148778&RCN=81479)

Objective: The solution proposed in EC FP6 SAFEE (Security of Aircraft in the Future European Environment) and developed by SOFIA, the Flight Reconfiguration Function (FRF), is a technological response of the industry to the social demand of increasing the security i n the air transport after the September 11th terrorist attacks. It is also a technological development coping with the aims of the "Ultra Secure Air Transport System" concept developed by ACARE in its Second Strategic Research Agenda.

As a continuation of the SAFEE works on FRF, SOFIA will design architectures for integrating the FRF system into several typologies of avionics for civil transport aircraft; develop one of this architectures; validate the FRF concept and the means to integrate it in the current ATM; assess the safety of FRF at aircraft and operational (ATC) levels. Therefore FRF will take the control of the aircraft and will manage to safely return it to ground upon a security emergency (e.g. hijacking), disabling the control and command of the aircraft from the cockpit. It will also execute a new flight plan towards a secure airport and land the aircraft at it. The flight plan can be generated in ground or in a military airplane and transmitted to the aircraft, or created autonomously at the own FRF system.

The execution of the new flight plan is autonomously performed by FRF without any control from ground. FRF also allows performing station keeping with a military aircraft. Additionally, SOFIA will investigate the integration of such solution into different airspace environments: current ATM, ASAS/ADS-B, airspace with/without radar coverage, 4D trajectory negotiation... SOFIA will validate FRF by using a platform composed of an ATC facility and a flight cabin simulator (upgrade of the one used in SAFEE SP3) linked, and by performing flight trials with real aircraft. The SOFIA consortium is a well- balanced and skilled set of 9 organizations from 7 countries across Europe, with SME.


Thought it might be of interest to some of you.

[Shiny side down]

My immediate thoughts. (open to much disagreement)
A costly bit of kit, derived from a costly bit of research, that would need to be fitted at great cost to all transport aircraft to achieve the aim. But in reality only of any practical application in designs to come, not those currently in existance.
Against the seemingly very very small chance that it(9/11 style attacks) should all happen again, in the same way, with the same aims.
And yet another level of 'security'. But it is unlikely to displace all the extremes that are in place now.
Also, a response to what happened, rather than what may happen in the future.
let the cake throwing begin.

[Genghis the Engineer]

FP6 funded research is now pretty much over, yet I can't seem to find anything on this published in any of the usual places (Aeronautical Journal, etc.) - this does suggest to me that this may have been little more than an EU-funded money-pit?

G

[wonderboysteve]

I work on an FP6 project that will run until the end of 2009, so not necessarily...

[GlueBall]

Infinitely more people are killed from ordinary airplane crashes than from aerial terrorist activities. Higher priority research, for example, could focus on preventing CFIT [Controlled Flight Into Terrain].

Terrorism paranoia is feeding a larger-than-life security industrial complex. Yet, the chances of an ordinary citizen being hit by a lightning bolt are still higher than being hit by a terrorist attack.

"Ultra Secure Air Transport System" is utopia. :suspect: