Wouldn’t it be wonderful if aircraft engines could inform us, many flight hours in advance, of internal problems that could lead to an in-flight failure?
And wouldn’t it be great to get that information via text, or email?
For pilots approaching a loss of aircraft control, how terrific would it be to for an all-knowing autopilot to prevent us from exceeding predetermined pitch and bank angles? If a pilot does inadvertently depart controlled flight, wouldn’t it be fantastic for the push of a single, conspicuous button to recover? Or simply fly straight and level?
What if our airplanes knew their geographic positions at all times and automatically turned away from threatening terrain and obstacles, or landed autonomously in case a pilot became overwhelmed or incapacitated? In an emergency, wouldn’t it be nice to have the autopilot fly a power-off approach to the nearest runway?
What if drones, and the huge worldwide investments now being made in them, led to breakthroughs in materials, propulsion, and sensors that improved the performance and lowered the costs of manned airplanes?
And finally, and perhaps most difficult to imagine, what if the FAA became an advocate for proven technologies (such as electronic ignition systems that have logged hundreds of thousands of flying hours) and created a streamlined path to get them into the GA fleet?
All this is more than fantasy. This wish list is made up of products and policies that either exist today, or are nearing completion, and offer great potential to improve GA going forward.
Savvy Analysis, the company founded by maintenance guru Mike Busch, has collected a massive amount of detailed engine data from millions of flight hours in piston-engine, GA airplanes. Now, the company has developed predictive tools that hunt for patterns showing hidden dangers like failing exhaust valves—one of the most common reasons for catastrophic engine failures. The company also is developing software that monitors temperature spikes, pressure changes, and other irregularities that warn of potential problems long before they become critical.
“We’ve got rich data that we can mine to show how aircraft engines are being operated in the real world,” Busch said. “The volume of information is growing rapidly, and we’ve got software that actually mines it to spot patterns and trends that show the problems that particular engines are likely to have in the future.”
In the case of a failing exhaust valve that typically shows up as a temperature spike in a single cylinder that occurs once per minute (the frequency at which a valve rotates). The cues are far too subtle for pilots to spot in flight, but specialized software can comb the data and alert the aircraft owner.
As engine monitors become standard equipment in GA aircraft, this data trove is sure to grow. And the information it provides to aircraft owners and pilots will get more refined, resulting in improved engine longevity and reliability.
A wonderful concept
Garmin and Cirrus pioneered the “blue button” that automatically engages the autopilot and flies straight and level. Avidyne took a leading role in unusual attitude recoveries using its digital DFC90 autopilot. But those products were made for relatively high-end GA aircraft.
Now firms such as TruTrak are developing low-cost autopilots with envelope protection that monitors the way an aircraft is being flown and keeps it from exceeding preset pitch, bank, and airspeed limits. The key is using mass-produced, off-the-shelf parts, and TruTrak takes that to an extreme by buying servos made for remote-control aircraft and modifying them to aerospace standards. The company’s ECO autopilot developed with Levil Technologies has a retail price of $1,000.
The FAA’s Small Airplane Directorate has signaled it’s willing, even anxious, to get safety-enhancing technologies developed for Experimental aircraft into FAA-
approved airplanes, and low-cost autopilots are among the agency’s higher priorities.
“We’re actively pursuing FAA certification—and everyone from the FAA administrator on down has shown a great deal of interest in what we’re doing,” said Andrew Barker, CEO of TruTrak, which has made only Experimental avionics for 16 years. “We know our product is certifiable, and this product was designed from the start for retrofit on Standard-category aircraft.
“We’re sure envelope protection improves flight safety, but now we’re doing it at a price point that will be attractive across a broad spectrum of aircraft owners.”
TruTrak and Levil also have teamed up with Xavion—a company formed by X-Plane developer Austin Meyer—to produce an emergency system that, in case of engine failure, engages an autopilot and glides to a landing at the nearest airport.
“It’s a wonderful concept that actually works,” Barker said. “We consistently let the autopilot fly down to 20 feet agl, and it performs extremely well. The best part is we’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible.”
The rapid growth of drones presents real threats of airspace restrictions and collisions hazards, but also tremendous benefits. Engine manufacturers, including Lycoming, have been building new diesel engines for drones, and that technology could someday transfer to manned GA aircraft. And those powerplants could dramatically increase range and efficiency, just as they’re already doing in high-flying, long-duration drones.
Sensenich is making lightweight, carbon fiber propellers for drones and airboats that it also sells for Experimental aircraft. The ability to produce them in greater volume for a variety of industries lowers unit costs.
One key to getting these, and other promising new technologies, into the GA fleet is the ongoing rewrite of FAA Part 23 certification standards. AOPA has enthusiastically supported this process since it began in 2009, and the FAA has submitted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that represents a sea change—a shift to what Earl Lawrence, manager of the FAA’s Small Airplane Directorate, calls “performance-based goals.”
Instead of spelling out all the steps required to certify a new seat, for example, the new method sets a goal of increasing the survivability of aircraft accidents and allows designers to determine how best to accomplish it. Stronger seats could be part of it, as well as crush zones in the passenger compartment, air bags, better materials, or a combination.
“The revolutionary aspect to all this is the underlying policy change,” Lawrence said. “We at FAA state the objective. We’re not going to tell people exactly what they need to do to comply. Right now we go into extreme detail, telling designers how to design and test new products. In the future, manufacturers will have a clean sheet to accomplish these objectives.”
The Small Airplane Directorate recently provided a model for how it intends to do business with its policy on angle of attack indicators. Inexpensive, non-TSOed angle of attack indicators have the potential to reduce loss-of-control accidents—so the Small Airplane Directorate approved adding them to most GA aircraft without complex STCs or Form 337 field approvals (see “Safety Spotlight,” page 24).
“AOA was a test run for a lower level of oversight and design of a product,” Lawrence said. “By getting the equipment out there, we’ll help avoid accidents. We get it. We have to change the way we do business to get these installed in aircraft.”
Once the pathways to these truly futuristic innovations are open, the benefits of technology that make flying less expensive, safer, and more enjoyable can become a reality.
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