Fly Safe with Tech-Savvy Pilots, Aircraft: New technology helps navigate Alaska's unique terrain.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa
• Position: TRANSPORTATION

Airlines face many challenges when transporting passengers and freight in Alaska, including inclement weather; remote, unpaved runways; the absence of radar coverage; and terrain that can challenge even the most experienced pilot. As aviation science advances, so does the ability of airlines to use new technologies to keep planes safely in the air.

"Our number one concern is passenger and crew safety, so it's fair to say that all new technology we evaluate is looked at through a safety lens first," explains Bret Peyton, director of Fleet Tech Support at Alaska Airlines. "From things like ensuring a robust safety reporting iPad application is available to all crew-members to outfitting our 737s with the latest weather radar available to installing flight path awareness instruments such as vertical situation displays for our 737 pilots, we always have safety at the forefront of our technology plans."

According to Peyton, Alaska Airlines uses three main criteria when deciding whether to employ new technology: does the new technology increase safety and/or compliance with FAA directives; does it increase the airline's operational capabilities and enhance reliability for paying passengers; and does it blend well with the FAA's national airspace modernization roadmap known as NextGen.

NextGen

The FAA NextGen program is a suite of technologies that provides better flight information to pilots. Airplanes are equipped with a "moving map" video display screen that shows the pilot his or her location relative to terrain, weather, and other NextGen-equipped airplanes in the vicinity. NextGen's Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system, which includes ground-based transmitters, communications equipment, transponders, Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation, surveillance, and weather reporting, is managed by the FAA's Surveillance and Broadcast Services program office.

"The whole NextGen system started in Alaska; back in the day it was called Capstone, and it was created by a small group of tech-savvy pilots and engineers whose goal was to reduce controlled flight into terrain, or CFIT," says Rich Sewell, aviation policy planner for the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities, Division of Statewide Aviation. "It was originally designed for what we call 'low-flyers,' or general aviation-type planes, so that they could see and avoid terrain before flying into it. For a long time, there was a relatively high incidence of crashes in the general aviation community, and the initial numbers showed that Capstone dropped that number by 50 percent."

Despite its success, the...