AR to make Aviation safer

Let’s face it, we all have daydreamed of sitting in a cockpit and roaming the wild, blue yonder. It’s hard to find someone who wouldn’t have been fascinated by aviation at some point in their life. But for all the gratification that flying brings with it, no one can deny that it is also in equal measure, a dangerous thing. Now, for the number of moving parts that make up an aircraft, it is a surprisingly efficient and safe machine. The incredibly high standard to which an aircraft is made and maintained ensures that failure rates become a statistical improbability. No, the real weak link in the chain isn’t a plane’s hydraulics or engines or control surfaces as one might expect, but is in fact the pilot itself.

Current studies point that pilot error accounts for a staggering 85% of all aviation accidents. And while accident rates in commercial aviation have decreased over the past few years, in general, they have remained mostly the same. Accidents in personal flight have actually gone up by 20% in the last decade.

 

Augmented Reality in General Aviation

With all the numbers, it’s easy to just point the finger at pilots and say they didn’t do their job right. But there is more to it than just that. Richard Collins in his article – Was it Really Pilot Error – Or Was it Something Else? sums up the real problem here very succinctly – “Pilots don’t err on purpose, though, they err because they don’t know better.”

Anyone who has flown (or has even tried out a desktop flight simulator) will tell you that flying ain’t easy. Even a glancing look at the controls of a Cessna 172 can confound a student pilot, let alone those of a Boeing 737 which consists of hundreds of switches and dials.

Pilots need to consider a lot of information before making the simplest of decisions and small errors have a way of snowballing out of control. Reading instruments, terrain, and weather to make decisions can get very tedious very fast. Being a pilot myself, I know at first hand how dangerous such a scenario can be.

This is where Augmented Reality (AR) steps in. The problem of pilot error isn’t so much as information not being available, but rather, too much information presented all the time that can lead to analysis paralysis. With AR applications, timely relevant information can be presented to the pilot when it is needed in an intuitive format, so that they can focus on the task at hand.

The idea of using AR in aviation isn’t so far fetched either, in fact, it has already been successfully implemented. Today, every fourth generation onwards fighter jet comes with a standard issue Heads Up Display (HUD) that displays critical navigational, flight, targeting, and mission related information on a piece of glass in front of the pilot. The idea is to ensure the pilot need not keep looking down at the instruments while in the heat of the battle. The fifth generation F-35 Lightning 2 has taken this concept even further by installing a complete AR package within the pilot’s helmet, giving them unprecedented 360 degree situational awareness and even see-thru ability.

Now, while most technologies typically trickle down from military applications to consumer markets, startups such as Aero Glass are also disrupting the traditional aviation landscape. Today, thanks to falling hardware prices and advancements in visualization technologies, AR is finally ready to make its appearance in commercial flying as well, a development that is long overdue. Many car models from Audi, BMW and Toyota have HUDs and it’s easy to find third party add ons for regular cars as well, so it’s definitely due for flight systems.

How AR Can Help Pilots

As stated before, the primary utility of AR in aviation is its ability to overlay relevant information on demand. Today’s AR systems can visualize terrain, navigation, air-traffic, instrument, weather, and airspace information in a 360-degree, 3D overlay that is easy to understand. Here are a few ways in which AR can assist a pilot. The following are shots from a working Aero Glass prototype in action.

So, let’s say a pilot is getting ready to taxi. Their AR HMD can create a virtual checklist that can help them with their pre-flight checks. Once the check is complete, the HMD can display runway information and guide the pilot to their designated runway. The pilot can even be alerted of other aircraft that are taxiing/landing/taking off.

Likewise, when the pilot is getting ready to take off or land, the AR system can display a simple corridor overlay to show the appropriate path. This is particularly useful as taking off and landings are the riskiest part of flying. As pilots are closer to the ground, any emergency needs to be addressed quickly. By telling a pilot exactly what needs to be done, an AR system can negate oversights making take-offs and landings simpler and safer.

Finally, an AR system can prove very handy during the cruise phase of the flight as well. Important information including artificial horizons, waypoints, weather updates, flight plans, restricted areas and terrain information can be displayed to provide complete situational awareness.

The display can be customized to a pilot’s preferences and modes can be turned on and off as well. It’s worth noting that a very high degree of precision is required to make this work and even the slightest different in overlay can have drastic (and potentially fatal) consequences.

Check out the below video to see a working Aero Glass prototype in action:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/210800728

AR Use Cases Beyond Piloting

While the above mentioned uses of AR are quite obvious and well tested, the technology presents opportunities elsewhere as well. Maintenance Repair and Operations (MRO) are another area that can benefit greatly from AR. Training and licensing a technician can be very expensive and time consuming. In the U.S.A., it can take up to 8 years for a maintenance professional to become fully licensed primarily because training is usually hands-on and getting access to equipment can be tough at times.

AR, VR, and Mixed Reality are already proving to be invaluable here. By creating virtual replicas of the actual components, technicians can practice their skills in a safe environment as many times as needed. They can place their hands on virtual parts and work with them just as they would on the real thing. AR/VR based instructions can reduce the amount of time and money required to train a professional, while making training completely accident-free.

Likewise while HUDs are making appearances in automobiles, they are barely scratching the surface of what’s possible. Wearable AR systems can provide 360-degree situational awareness to drivers just like pilots and help them drive safer. Landmarks, navigational information, and hazards, can all be displayed in front of a driver’s line of sight so that they don’t need to keep taking their eyes off the road.

Some people are of the opinion that automation is the future of both general and military aviation. Autopilot and sensor technology are no doubt making great strides and they will make the skies safer. That being said, technology won’t be replacing the humble pilots anytime soon, error prone as they might be.

Take for instance the case of Flight 1549 (the flight the movie Sully is based on). Heading from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina, the plane experienced a bird strike just 3 minutes after take off which took out both the engines. Finding that he couldn’t turn back, nor could they make it to New Jersey’s Teterboro airport, the pilot decided to ditch the plane in the Hudson river, which he successfully did saving all the 155 people onboard. Now known as the “Miracle on the Hudson,” the incident is a reminder that the human element cannot be overlooked as machines cannot make decisions of such nature.

Augmented reality applications such as those being developed by Aero Glass will help pilots of the future avoid costly mistakes and make timely decisions that will save lives. While the technology is still under development, it goes without saying that the enhancements to safety they bring are well worth the time.

The article originally appeared on UploadVR

10 of the world’s biggest aviation mysteries

We look at other famous aviation mysteries;

1. Amelia Earhart

The pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart vanished over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 while attempting to circumnavigate the globe. Various reasons have been given for her disappearance. Some claim she was a spy, and that she was shot down and captured by Japanese forces; some believe she faked her own death; a few even claim she was abducted by aliens.

2. The Bermuda Triangle

The roughly triangular area bounded by Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico is where dozens of aircraft and ships are said to have vanished in unusual circumstances, with the disappearances attributed to paranormal or extraterrestrial activity.

Notable incidents include the disappearance of Flight 19, a US Navy bomber, on December 5, 1945, as well as the aircraft sent to search for it; that of a Douglas DC-3 aircraft with 32 people on board in 1948; and a mid-air collision between two US Air Force planes in 1963.

3. “D B Cooper”

In 1971, an unidentified man travelling under the name of “Dan Cooper” managed to hijack a Boeing 727, extort a $200,000 ransom, and leap from the rear exit on the aircraft (with a parachute), never to be seen again. No conclusive evidence has emerged confirming his true identity or subsequent whereabouts, but FBI investigatiors claimed he would not have survived the jump.

“Dan Cooper” managed to hijack a Boeing 727, extort a $200,000 ransom, and leap from the rear exit on the aircraft (with a parachute), never to be seen again

A year after the incident “Cooper vanes” were installed to disable aircraft doors while the landing gear is up.

4. TWA Flight 800

Trans World Airlines Flight 800, a Boeing 747, exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, resulting in the deaths of all 230 people on board.

While many speculated that terrorists were to blame, no evidence of a criminal act was discovered by the FBI following a 16-month investigation. Others suggested that a US Navy vessel blew up the plane with a missile strike, and that the US Government has since instigated a cover-up.

A report published on August 23, 2000, concluded that a short circuit was the most likely cause of the explosion.

5. Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

On October 13, 1972, a Uruguayan air force plane carrying 40 passengers and five crew members disappeared while crossing the Andes. Seventy-two days later, after everyone on board was presumed dead, 16 survivors emerged. The story of how starvation drove them to eat some of the dead passengers was made into the 1993 film “Alive”.

A still from the movie ‘Alive’

6. Air France Flight 447

In the early hours of June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris went missing, along with 216 passengers and 12 crew. The Airbus A330-200 disappeared mid-ocean, beyond radar coverage and in darkness. It took a shocked and bewildered Air France six hours to concede its loss and for several days no trace of it was found. Even when wreckage was discovered, the tragedy was no less perplexing. The aircraft had flown through a thunderstorm, but there was no distress signal, and the jet was state-of-the-art, a type that had never before been involved in a fatal accident. The aircraft’s black boxes were recovered nearly two years later, at the bottom of the ocean. A final report, published in July 2012, said the accident occurred due to obstruction of the “pitot tubes” due to ice crystals, which caused the auto-pilot to disengage, as well as human error. It later emerged that the pilot had only slept one hour the previous night after a romantic jaunt in Brazil with his girlfriend.

7. Helios Airways Flight 522

On August 14, 2005, air traffic controllers in Greece lost contact with Helios Airways Flight 522, but the plane remained in the holding pattern for Athens Airport for more than an hour. At one point, a Greek fighter jet was scrambled, and spotted the pilot slumped over the controls. Around half an hour later the plane started to descend, crashing into the hills near Grammatiko, killing all 121 passengers and crew (the deadliest air disaster in Greek history). An investigation revealed that a gradual loss of cabin pressure had left the crew incapacitated.

Athens at dusk

8. Flying Tiger Line Flight 739

On March 16, 1962, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation propliner carrying 93 US soldiers and 3 South Vietnamese, disappeared in clear weather on its way to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, prompting an eight-day search of more than 200,000 square miles. Eye witnesses on a civilian tanker reported seeing an explosion, but no remains were ever found.

9. Egyptair Flight 990

In 1999, Egyptair Flight 990 from New York to Cairo plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean around 60 miles off the US coast. All 217 people died in the crash, but mystery still surrounds its cause. The Egyptian Flight Officer controlling the plane was recorded repeatedly saying “I rely on God” moments before the disaster, and a colleague claimed he crashed the jet as an act of revenge after being reprimanded by the airline for sexual misconduct, but an investigation concluded he did not deliberately cause the accident.

10. BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust

In August 1947, Star Dust, a British South American Airways airliner vanished as it flew between Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Santiago, Chile, via Mendoza. No wreckage was discovered for over 50 years, provoking conspiracy theories about sabotage and abduction by aliens. A Rolls Royce engine and the remains of nine of the eleven victims were eventually found at the foot of a glacier in the Andes.

The 5 Best Flying Games of All Time

Some people dream about playing in the NFL. Others dream about driving a race car or flying an airplane. It’s easy to dream about an exhilarating career that requires heaps of talent and practice, but it takes a special kind of person to actually do it.

Thankfully for the rest of us, we have video games that let us live out these dreams without putting in all that hard work. Below, we take a look at the five most lauded flying games of all time.

As for our methodology, we surveyed all of the flying games listed on Metacritic that received exceptional praise all around. For each game, we created a composite score that includes both critic and user ratings (e.g. a game with a 95 critic score and 9.3 user score would receive a 94 composite score). This should gives us the clearest picture of how well the games were received overall between the time of release and now.

5. Flight Simulator 2002

Composite Metacritic Score: 86.5

In the early 2000s, Microsoft didn’t do a whole lot of hands-on game development. One series the company was known for, however, was Flight Simulator, a nearly annual set of games that didn’t mess around when it came to delivering a true-to-life flying experience.

Delivering a realistic rendition of Earth, populated with over 20,000 airports and navigable from a dozen different kinds of aircraft, Flight Simulator 2002 offered players the most impressive flying sim ever made to that point. Throw in realistic skylines for all the major cities and graphics that dropped jaws in their day, and you’ve got a flying game for the ages.

4. Falcon 4.0: Allied Force

Composite Metacritic Score: 87.5

Originally released in a lackluster package in 1998, Falcon 4.0 took seven more years to fully come into its own. The Allied Force version of the game launched in 2005, and it solved every problem introduced in the original game, creating one of the best air combat sims ever made.

Falcon 4.0 puts players in a one-to-one digital version of the cockpit of an F-16 Fighting Falcon, one of the most impressive pieces of aircraft technology ever conceived. Whether you’re doing mile-high maneuvers during a dogfight or dropping payloads on military targets, this game is as close as most of us will get to participating in realistic air combat. For all of our sakes, that’s probably a good thing.

3. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader

Composite Metacritic Score: 89

To watch a Star Wars movie is — more or less — to wish you could pilot one of the awesome space fighters that play such a central role in the films. That wish is your reality in Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. This GameCube game may have launched in 2001, but it still holds up all these years later.

2. IL-2 Sturmovik

Composite Metacritic Score: 89

Even though it doesn’t have the most memorable title of the games on this list, don’t let that stop you from playing this all-time classic of the air combat genre. The graphics may not impress as much as they did when it first launched, but the gameplay is as solid as ever.

You play as a pilot in World War II, in control of every knob and switch found in the cockpits of 31 true-to-life airplanes. You can choose your country of origin and hop online to fight in matches with up to 100 players. The series has continued to this day, but this is the game that kicked off the whole thing. It’s rightly remembered as one of the very best games in the genre.

1. FreeSpace 2

Composite Metacritic Score: 90

Space shooters don’t get much better than this even now. So when FreeSpace 2 launched in 1999, it was a revelation, a game that was destined to become a classic. You play as a space pilot who goes to war against a mysterious alien race. While you’re at it, you also have to put down a rebellion. But from the solid controls to the incredible zero-G physics, FreeSpace 2 delivered on every level a space shooter can deliver on.

The game is still available, and thanks to the developer making the game engine open source, it has been continually improved upon. Give this game a shot if you’re even mildly interested in space shooters.

The article originally appeared on CheatSheet

Why haven’t commercial planes changed that much over the past 45 years?

Honestly, I don’t think things are likely to change much for the next several decades.  Maybe somebody will come up with a workable business model for providing supersonic or hypersonic transport for those well-heeled enough to afford it, but there’s really very little market-based incentive to do so, and the environment impact of such operations is bound to be appalling even in comparison to current airline operations.

Most of the past half-century’s innovations have been in the areas of efficiency, capacity, and safety.  We’re close to the point of diminishing returns in all three of those domains.  Large amounts of money are needed to achieve incremental changes in any of them.  Short of some disruptive technology on the propulsion front, I seriously doubt there’s much more that can be done to make a substantial difference in the economics of aviation.

The basic design of airliners is pretty well settled these days.  Wingspans have to fit within existing runway and taxiway infrastructure.  Terminal boarding and off-loading provisions are adaptable to a reasonable range of aircraft heights and lengths; the Airbus A380 drove quite a few airframe-unique accommodations for both aircraft access and high-volume passenger processing that gave some would-be host airports pause.

The only really new configuration that keeps getting touted as “the future” is the Blended wing body concept, but I think that would suffer significant challenges in terms of being able to be handled without large-scale investments at the destinations they’d want to ply.  The people saving money operating that type of aircraft wouldn’t be the same people called upon to invest in providing for them, so introducing something so radically different could be a very tough sell.

International air travel became the go-to alternative to ocean liners because of the gains they offered in both time and convenience.  The original Queen Mary could carry just shy of 2,000 passengers; about five Boeing 777s could handle the same number of travelers over a comparable distance in a tenth of the time.  You just aren’t going to see economically viable aircraft/spacecraft offering a similar order-of-magnitude advantage for the foreseeable future.

For that matter, hypersonic travel itself may ultimately achievable, but it might very well be accompanied by a bit of the glamour (and frisson) that went with air travel in the 1930s — comparatively fast, ruinously expensive, and carrying with it a teensy possibility of occasional violent death for its participants.  If that aura doesn’t wind up being attractive to potential investors or passengers, the technology underlying hypersonic transports is going to have to be a lot more reliable than it has been to date.

The answer originally appeared on Quora.