RAT 5
6th Nov 2009, 21:48
Greetings,
There is another thread on here about autolands, and I do not want to encroach on it. Recently I saw a Top Gear presentation of what 'himself' thinks is the best car around, and the mark which, over the past many years has introduced those safety gadgets we now take for granted: Mercedes S class. Amongst its whizz-bang toys was an infra-red camera display on the sat-nav screen. Jeremy said it was superb and not distracting, as you only needed to glance at it as you might the nav screen. Most of your attention, in fog/night, was still outside. On the TV it did look marvellous. There will be bretheren here who have used it in anger in the military. Considering CFIT is still the major cause of unnecessary smoking holes, i.e. serviceable a/c meeting the ground in an unplanned place, and consdering all the money being spent on other tools to help stop it happening, what about civil FLIR? If Mercedes can put it on a <70.000 GBP car, surely it is not outside the wit of man to include it on a >50m U$ a/c? Does anyone have any knowledge of any research? The latest toy is the 787; so what about that? I'm not asking for its use to be there to lower limits per se, but it would surely make a CAT 2/3 approach, and a NPA, more relaxing and confident. HUDS can be used to CAT 3a I read, why not a FLIR to lower a CAT 2 a/c to CAT 3a? CAT 3b could even go down to <75m. I heard that was for the rescue crews to find the a/c if needed, and for the taxi in/out. If FLIR became as common as Tom Tom, even the rescue vehicles could have them fitted. The original idea of GPS guided car navigation was phoo phoo'd. "What wrong with a MAP?" It was not very good. Now look what's happened, and with the popularity and sales figures, the price has plummeted. Same would happen to civil FLIR as long as the CAA's had a sensible attitude and didn't ask it to navigate you to the moon and back with associated cost. The introduction of GPS on a/c has been a boom; I've no idea how much to altered the cost of the basic a/c. Why should it be a toy only for the low level military heli boys? I'm surprised the production firms have not pushed it for the civil market.
Thoughts and experiences?
There is another thread on here about autolands, and I do not want to encroach on it. Recently I saw a Top Gear presentation of what 'himself' thinks is the best car around, and the mark which, over the past many years has introduced those safety gadgets we now take for granted: Mercedes S class. Amongst its whizz-bang toys was an infra-red camera display on the sat-nav screen. Jeremy said it was superb and not distracting, as you only needed to glance at it as you might the nav screen. Most of your attention, in fog/night, was still outside. On the TV it did look marvellous. There will be bretheren here who have used it in anger in the military. Considering CFIT is still the major cause of unnecessary smoking holes, i.e. serviceable a/c meeting the ground in an unplanned place, and consdering all the money being spent on other tools to help stop it happening, what about civil FLIR? If Mercedes can put it on a <70.000 GBP car, surely it is not outside the wit of man to include it on a >50m U$ a/c? Does anyone have any knowledge of any research? The latest toy is the 787; so what about that? I'm not asking for its use to be there to lower limits per se, but it would surely make a CAT 2/3 approach, and a NPA, more relaxing and confident. HUDS can be used to CAT 3a I read, why not a FLIR to lower a CAT 2 a/c to CAT 3a? CAT 3b could even go down to <75m. I heard that was for the rescue crews to find the a/c if needed, and for the taxi in/out. If FLIR became as common as Tom Tom, even the rescue vehicles could have them fitted. The original idea of GPS guided car navigation was phoo phoo'd. "What wrong with a MAP?" It was not very good. Now look what's happened, and with the popularity and sales figures, the price has plummeted. Same would happen to civil FLIR as long as the CAA's had a sensible attitude and didn't ask it to navigate you to the moon and back with associated cost. The introduction of GPS on a/c has been a boom; I've no idea how much to altered the cost of the basic a/c. Why should it be a toy only for the low level military heli boys? I'm surprised the production firms have not pushed it for the civil market.
Thoughts and experiences?