|
NATIONAL CONSORTIUM PICKS AVIATION TECHNOLOGY TEST
SITE
A public-private partnership, working to develop tools for a
better Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS), has chosen
Danville Regional Airport, Danville, Va. as the location to test
technologies that could improve general aviation and make air
travel more accessible to more people.
NASA and the National Consortium for Aviation Mobility are
planning an operational demonstration at the airport in mid-2005
with aircraft equipped with new technologies developed by NASA's
SATS project. The goal of the demonstration is to show emerging
aviation technologies can be integrated into operations in an
airport environment. This new capability may some day allow more
small aircraft and airports to be used safely and reliably by more
passengers. It is the culmination of the five-year SATS research
project.
Researchers at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.,
and at SATS laboratories across the country, are developing
integrated airborne systems, cockpit displays and operating
procedures for advanced four to 10 passenger aircraft. These
technologies could help planes safely fly into under-used rural and
suburban airports, including many airfields that don't have radar
or air traffic control towers. About 93 percent of people in the
U.S. live within 30 minutes of one of these airports.
SATS research is focusing on four operating capabilities that
may help permit people and goods to travel faster and farther,
anywhere and any time. These technologies would allow:
- higher volume operations at airports that don't have control
towers or terminal radar,
- pilots to land safely in low visibility conditions at minimally
equipped airports,
- increased single-pilot performance, and
- SATS aircraft to integrate seamlessly into the complex national
airspace.
Many of the cockpit systems to enable the SATS operating
capabilities are already being developed by NASA, its industry
partners and other companies. SATS researchers are working to
demonstrate complex, sophisticated technology can be brought
together as an effective, affordable system for smaller
airplanes.
For information about NASA on the Internet, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
For more information about SATS on the Internet, visit:
http://sats.nasa.gov
For information about the National Consortium for Aviation
Mobility on the Internet, visit:
http://www.ncam-sats.org
-end-
|
