Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington                Sept. 5, 2001
(Phone: 202/358-1979)

Kathy Barnstorff 
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
(Phone: 757/864-9886)

RELEASE: 01-177

FLYING NASA LABORATORY TAKES A SAFETY
SYNTHETIC TOUR OF THE ROCKIES

     NASA researchers are testing a revolutionary cockpit 
technology that will help pilots avoid deadly accidents 
caused by poor visibility. A passenger jet, equipped with 
futuristic, three-dimensional computer displays, is flying 
over the Rocky Mountains not far from Vail, Colo.

Engineers from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, 
Va., have loaded a computer database depicting Vail's 
mountainous terrain on board a NASA research aircraft known 
as ARIES or Airborne Research Integrated Experiments System. 
ARIES is a highly modified Boeing 757 passenger jet 
transformed into a "flying simulator." 

The ARIES aircraft is taking off from the Colorado Springs 
Airport and making a number of flights over the Eagle County 
Regional Airport in support of the NASA Aviation Safety 
Program's (AvSP) Synthetic Vision Systems project. The NASA 
AvSP is working with industry teams to create and refine 
Synthetic Vision, a revolutionary display system for cockpits 
that will offer pilots an electronic picture of what's 
outside their windows, no matter the weather or time of day. 

During three weeks of flights, pilots from NASA, Boeing, the 
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and major airlines are 
testing various Synthetic Vision display concepts in a real-
life, terrain-challenged environment. They are evaluating 
display sizes, fields of view and computer graphic options to 
help determine which configurations will be most effective in 
preventing accidents. The system includes visual cues that 
will give pilots precision navigation guidance and help them 
avoid obstacles.

Limited visibility is one of the greatest factors in most 
fatal aircraft accidents, according to Michael Lewis, 
director of the NASA Aviation Safety Program, headquartered 
at Langley. "With Global Positioning Satellite signals, 
pilots now can know exactly where they are," said Lewis. "Add 
super-accurate terrain databases and graphical displays, and 
we can draw three-dimensional moving scenes that will show 
pilots exactly what's outside. The type of accidents that 
happen in poor visibility just don't happen when pilots can 
see the terrain hazards ahead."

The NASA Aviation Safety Program envisions a system that will 
use new and existing technologies to incorporate data into 
displays in aircraft cockpits. The displays will show 
terrain, ground obstacles, air traffic, landing and approach 
patterns, runway surfaces and other relevant data to the 
flight crew.

The NASA Aviation Safety Program is a partnership with the 
FAA, the Department of Defense, aircraft manufacturers, 
airlines and universities. This partnership supports a 
national goal of reducing the fatal aircraft accident rate by 
80 percent in 10 years.

Researchers at four NASA field installations are working with 
the FAA and industry to develop advanced, affordable 
technologies to make flying safer: Langley; NASA Ames 
Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.; NASA Dryden Flight 
Research Center, Edwards, Calif.; and NASA Glenn Research 
Center, Cleveland.

Because of advances made the last 40 years, commercial 
airliners are the safest of all major modes of 
transportation. But with an accident rate that has remained 
relatively constant in the last decade, and air traffic 
expected to go up significantly over the next 20 years, the 
U.S. government wants to prevent a projected rise in the 
number of aircraft accidents.

More information on the NASA Aviation Safety Program is 
available on  the Internet at: 

             http://avsp.larc.nasa.gov

                        -end-