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> BOEING PROPOSES NEW FLIGHT DECK EQUIPMENT
>
> *EVERETT, WA (AP)* Boeing Commercial Airplane Company Vice President of
> Engineering, Bill Alum, today announced the company's development of a new,
> high technology transport jet flight deck warning system designed to help
> pilots avoid the sort of incident that Asiana Airlines flight 214
> experienced recently while attempting to land in San Francisco. The new
> device utilizes measurements of air pressure taken at different points on
> the aircraft's airframe to calculate how fast the airplane is traveling
> through the air. The actual technology involved in the inputs and how they
> are processed is still considered proprietary technological information by
> Boeing, as well as by the U.S. Department of Defense.
>
> Mr. Alum said that this device, if installed in all new aircraft, as well
> as being retrofitted into the existing commercial aircraft fleet, “has the
> potential to save hundreds of lives each year”. It is engineered to provide
> the pilots of these mammoth, high performance aircraft with continuous,
> real-time updates of how fast the airplane is moving. This will allow them
> to always make sure that the aircraft's speed remains within a safe
> operating envelope. “Information is power”, said Mr. Alum. The full name of
> the device is yet to be determined, but the current working name is “*airspeed
> indicator*”.
>
> Reaction within the aviation industry has ranged from skepticism to
> enthusiasm. Dr. Phillip Head, chairman of the Department of Aeronautical
> Engineering at M.I.T. stated that his department has been recommending
> something such as an *airspeed indicator* for many years, but that their
> advocacy for it has “fallen on deaf ears”.
>
> In Toulouse, France, AirBus Chief Engineer Pierre Le Fou said that, due to
> AirBus' advanced flight guidance systems, such a device would be an
> unnecessary addition to their flight decks. “The technical advancement of
> our flight decks is such that pilots have no need for this type of
> information. Our guidance systems are constantly aware of all pertinent
> parameters while in flight, and will automatically keep them within the
> normal range. The pilots of our aircraft have no use for such a device as
> an *airspeed indicator*”.
>
> In Seoul, Korean Pilots Association (KPA) spokesman Lee Bang-wan stated
> that a device such as this proposed *airspeed indicator* would only serve
> to be a distraction in the flight deck, and that KPA pilots would probably
> just ignore it. Additionally, he stated that such a complex system was
> unneeded considering that the KPA pilots have a safety record that is
> “equal to that of any air carrier that is currently based in Korea”.
>
> In Washington, D.C., R. N. Mowth, a spokesman for the U.S. Air Transport
> Association, stated that “oppressive federal regulation, such as any
> requirement to have so-called *airspeed indicators* installed in transport
> aircraft, is just one more sign of a government run amok with too much
> power, and its stifling of the free enterprise system”.
>
> Skepticism not withstanding, Boeing seems to be determined to proceed with
> the development of this new flight deck technology. Mr. Alum stated that
> “we feel that, once pilots reach the point that they understand the value
> of the heretofore unavailable information that our proposed *airspeed
> indicator* can give them, they will embrace this new device and will learn
> to keep a close eye on it”.
>
> *EVERETT, WA (AP)* Boeing Commercial Airplane Company Vice President of
> Engineering, Bill Alum, today announced the company's development of a new,
> high technology transport jet flight deck warning system designed to help
> pilots avoid the sort of incident that Asiana Airlines flight 214
> experienced recently while attempting to land in San Francisco. The new
> device utilizes measurements of air pressure taken at different points on
> the aircraft's airframe to calculate how fast the airplane is traveling
> through the air. The actual technology involved in the inputs and how they
> are processed is still considered proprietary technological information by
> Boeing, as well as by the U.S. Department of Defense.
>
> Mr. Alum said that this device, if installed in all new aircraft, as well
> as being retrofitted into the existing commercial aircraft fleet, “has the
> potential to save hundreds of lives each year”. It is engineered to provide
> the pilots of these mammoth, high performance aircraft with continuous,
> real-time updates of how fast the airplane is moving. This will allow them
> to always make sure that the aircraft's speed remains within a safe
> operating envelope. “Information is power”, said Mr. Alum. The full name of
> the device is yet to be determined, but the current working name is “*airspeed
> indicator*”.
>
> Reaction within the aviation industry has ranged from skepticism to
> enthusiasm. Dr. Phillip Head, chairman of the Department of Aeronautical
> Engineering at M.I.T. stated that his department has been recommending
> something such as an *airspeed indicator* for many years, but that their
> advocacy for it has “fallen on deaf ears”.
>
> In Toulouse, France, AirBus Chief Engineer Pierre Le Fou said that, due to
> AirBus' advanced flight guidance systems, such a device would be an
> unnecessary addition to their flight decks. “The technical advancement of
> our flight decks is such that pilots have no need for this type of
> information. Our guidance systems are constantly aware of all pertinent
> parameters while in flight, and will automatically keep them within the
> normal range. The pilots of our aircraft have no use for such a device as
> an *airspeed indicator*”.
>
> In Seoul, Korean Pilots Association (KPA) spokesman Lee Bang-wan stated
> that a device such as this proposed *airspeed indicator* would only serve
> to be a distraction in the flight deck, and that KPA pilots would probably
> just ignore it. Additionally, he stated that such a complex system was
> unneeded considering that the KPA pilots have a safety record that is
> “equal to that of any air carrier that is currently based in Korea”.
>
> In Washington, D.C., R. N. Mowth, a spokesman for the U.S. Air Transport
> Association, stated that “oppressive federal regulation, such as any
> requirement to have so-called *airspeed indicators* installed in transport
> aircraft, is just one more sign of a government run amok with too much
> power, and its stifling of the free enterprise system”.
>
> Skepticism not withstanding, Boeing seems to be determined to proceed with
> the development of this new flight deck technology. Mr. Alum stated that
> “we feel that, once pilots reach the point that they understand the value
> of the heretofore unavailable information that our proposed *airspeed
> indicator* can give them, they will embrace this new device and will learn
> to keep a close eye on it”.