Emirates - Landing safety spurs Honeywell technology buy
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By John Croft
Emirates has signed a memorandum of understanding with Honeywell to purchase the company's new SmartLanding safety system for its entire fleet of aircraft, apart from the A380.
A software upgrade to Honeywell's runway awareness and advisory system, SmartLanding provides pilots with visual and audible alerts tied to the stability of an approach - too high, too fast or not configured properly and later during the landing in an attempt to reduce runway excursions.
Honeywell says runway events cause an average of 30 accidents a year and 97% of those involve an excursion, where an aircraft either does not reach, leaves the side, or bypasses the end of a runway.
Once the aircraft lands, SmartLanding provides call-outs for long landing if the aircraft extends beyond a pre-determined touchdown zone, together with call-outs of runway distance remaining during rollout.
Also included is a check for inadvertent barometric altimeter correction errors, which Honeywell says continues to be a contributing factor in controlled flight into terrain accidents and incidents.
RAAS, and by association, SmartLanding, gets its information from Honeywell's enhanced ground proximity warning system. RAAS provides situational awareness on the ground by comparing an aircraft's actual position to stored runway information. Emirates equipped its fleet with Honeywell's RAAS two years ago.
The carrier plans to complete the required software upgrade for adding SmartLanding to its 121-strong Boeing 777-200/300 and Airbus A330 and A340 fleet by year-end.
