Technology

Industry and government work to make the vision a reality

Three years ago, NASA scientist Dr. Bruce Holmes described a four- place, single-engine airplane that would be so easy to operate, safe, and practical that it would make flying attractive to a wider audience (see "Creating a General Aviation Renaissance," March 1993 Pilot). A larger market would make airplanes more affordable to purchase and operate, stimulating the industry and generating public support for general aviation and airports.

The airplane Holmes envisioned would use GPS, datalink, and large, flat-panel technology to graphically display moving-map navigation, two- or three-dimensional real-time weather, traffic information, air traffic control clearances, and aircraft/engine status and warnings. It would have a digitally controlled engine that would require only a single power lever, simplifying the pilot's powerplant/propeller management tasks. The airplane would have a more aerodynamic design, making it more fuel efficient and faster. It would be made of more crashworthy materials with better icing protection.

It was an intriguing vision; but to many who had watched the industry decline steadily over the previous 12 years, it seemed unlikely to become more tangible than that.

Three years later, however, that unlikely vision has spawned an unprecedented cooperative effort by NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration, universities, and almost 60 industry competitors. Holmes' vision has persuaded NASA to increase its budget for general aviation-oriented research from zero to $120 million over eight years, convinced the FAA to include $20 million to $25 million starting in 1997, and prompted industry to match at least $63 million of that amount. Holmes' vision also has inspired some of the most enthusiastic expressions of hope and confidence from both small and large general aviation manufacturers in more than a decade.

The Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (Agate) program, as the eight-year cooperative effort is labeled, was made possible when several critical factors came together in the right way at the right time. Holmes was presenting his vision of a GA renaissance just as Dan Goldin took over as NASA's new administrator. Goldin visited the EAA Fly-in Convention in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1992 and was inspired by what he called the "entrepreneurial spirit" of the homebuilders and pilots he met there. Fueled by his Oshkosh experience, the requests he had received from a number of manufacturers for more GA support from NASA, and the ideas Holmes had presented, Goldin commissioned a General Aviation Advisory Task Force to look at what might make an industry turnaround possible.

The task force's report, released in 1993, echoed Holmes' vision and became the outline for the Agate program. The task force agreed that new technology could be the key to an industry turnaround, but it concluded that developing the technology would require a large-scale joint venture between government and industry. Creating that kind of arrangement was a substantial challenge, however. Collaborative efforts among competing companies were not only unusual, they were illegal in the United States until 1984. A joint venture between government and manufacturers also required a fundamental restructuring of the contract-based approach NASA and the FAA typically used to work with industry.

NASA's financial contribution comprises $63 million in matching funds, in addition to approximately $4 million each a year in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants geared toward GA technology.

Developing the operating guidelines for this kind of complex and fragile partnership took a year, but the consortium was finally formalized in November 1994. Its goals are to advance basic technologies, develop standards and guidelines for both design and certification of products manufacturers might derive from those advances, and work with the FAA to develop whatever air or ground systems are needed to support the use of advanced technology products.

A quick scan of the consortium membership reads like a "Who's Who in Aviation." Members include the Cessna Aircraft Company and Raytheon Aircraft, Teledyne Continental and Textron Lycoming, AlliedSignal, United Technologies, Rockwell International, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Arnav, and Cirrus Design, to name just a few. The consortium has also won support within the FAA — a critical element if any of the technology is to be certified and incorporated into the national airspace system.

The consortium is delicately balanced, and some of the manufacturers are still a little wary about working with each other. Yet they seem willing to tolerate that discomfort for two reasons. First, the consortium allows them to share the risk of technology development and have a powerful unified voice about certification issues. Second, they have NASA to call on to arbitrate any disagreements. "We're willing to work together because NASA's watching," says Alan Klapmeier, president of Cirrus Design Corporation. And so far, the companies have found that the cooperative efforts are working pretty well. "There's some overlap; but generally, we're not all working on the exact same product," explains Jabe Luttrell of Hamilton Standard United Technologies.

Even if industry players can work together successfully, other questions remain: Are the goals realistic? What advances in technology are possible? How far off are they? What capabilities will they give pilots? And can they be certified and marketed at an affordable price? Cost and certification issues remain, but a number of products and demonstrations at the EAA convention in Oshkosh this summer illustrated that — from a technical standpoint, at least — many of the technologies targeted by the Agate program are well within reach.

Arnav Systems, for example, is already marketing a cockpit avionics and electronic display suite that provides some of the cockpit display capabilities identified by the Agate consortium. Arnav's System 6 family of products incorporates an electronic primary function display; navigation via GPS and/or loran; moving maps; engine monitoring systems; and a datalink capability that can provide real-time weather (including graphical depictions of ceilings and visibility), ground communication, and even limited 3-D traffic information. A higher-end version called the ICDS 2000, using 8 2 6-inch color flat-panel displays, is expected to be certified in the Cirrus/Israviation ST-50 turboprop airplane in 1996.

Several other companies are marketing personal computers that can accept a variety of software programs chosen by the pilot for use in the cockpit. The Avidyne Corporation's Flight Computer System, for example, is essentially an IBM-compatible PC. Software currently available allows it to superimpose a moving map over color sectional charts, IFR charts, or approach plates, and weather and/or terrain information. It can also display engine monitoring information. Four different companies are currently developing software for the system, which Avidyne expects to certify by the end of the year.

In terms of aircraft design, Cessna is already marketing the CitationJet, which has a true laminar-flow wing. Cirrus Design's new SR20 could represent a significant step toward a next- generation GA aircraft. The SR20's cockpit is designed to include at least some portions of an Arnav System 6 avionics/ electronic display suite, and its composite design is efficient enough to cruise at 160 KTAS while burning just over 10 gallons of fuel per hour — even with its fixed-gear configuration. While there is still a significant gap between the SR20 and Holmes' ideal Agate airplane, the philosophy behind the SR20 is the same.

In addition to actual products, there is GA-related research in progress, thanks to the NASA SBIR/STTR grants. Vision Microsystems, for example, is working on technology to monitor engine start temperatures and vibrations, as well as normal operating parameters, with the goal of improving detection of impending engine failures. A company called Innovative Aerodynamic Technologies has developed a graphical user computer interface to help aeronautical engineers design laminar-flow airfoils. Innovative Dynamics, meanwhile, is flight testing an electro-impulse deicing system on a Piper Malibu. The system uses internal electronic impulses, instead of the conventional boot design, to "kick" ice off the leading edge, and could enable the design of laminar-flow wings for piston airplanes.

Arnav also has an SBIR grant to investigate an airborne weather reporting system that would use sensors on aircraft to gather real-time weather information. The information would then be data-linked to other aircraft and presented in a graphical and possibly 3-D format. In addition, Arnav is looking at software that could compare that weather information with personal limits selected by the pilot and present an alternate flight path to avoid turbulence or weather conditions beyond his chosen limits. The ability to present weather in 3-D is currently beyond the capability of cockpit computers; but for non-aviation applications, the Digital Equipment Corporation, also a member of the Agate consortium, has already developed an "Alpha" microchip that is powerful enough to make it possible.

Other manufacturers are already beginning larger-scale research, using Agate matching funds. Hamilton Standard United Technologies, for example, is working on a Full Authority Digital Engine Control (Fadec) system for piston engines. The Fadec technology, which United Technologies has already developed for turbine transport engines, would enable the single-lever power control capability described by Holmes.

In other words, most of the technology necessary to create the kind of airplane and system envisioned by the Agate consortium could be available reasonably soon. The bigger questions revolve around issues of FAA certification, cost, and commercial viability.

In an effort to help smooth the way for certification of any follow-on products, the FAA is assigning a certification specialist to work with each of the consortium's work groups. Rick Weiss, manager of the FAA's General Aviation and Vertical Flight Program Office, is optimistic about support for the effort within the agency. While he acknowledges that he can't speak for everyone within the organization, he is emphatic that "everyone we've talked to in the FAA who needs to be a player has been supportive."

A much bigger obstacle is probably going to be money. The Agate program will not fund actual product development, which means companies will have to obtain their own capital to get new- technology products to market. This has been extremely difficult for GA manufacturers in the past decade, although the General Aviation Revitalization Act passed in 1994 should make the industry a little more attractive to investors. Even then, a question remains: Can this technology be produced inexpensively enough to make it affordable for aircraft owners?

One Arnav multi-function display with sensors and a datalink capability currently sells for less than $10,000, according to company President Frank Williams, but one of the full System 6 configurations would run around $30,000. Avidyne's cockpit PC with GPS and moving map software will cost about $10,000. The target price for a basic IFR-equipped production SR20 aircraft is expected to be between $130,000 and $140,000.

The Agate consortium knows these figures are still too high to reach a mass market. According to Cirrus Vice President Dean Vogel, NASA administrator Goldin said that the SR20 is a great design, but a way must be found to produce it for $50,000. Indeed, industry's awareness of the need for lower-cost manufacturing is why one of the four initial work areas in the Agate consortium is devoted to integrated design and manufacturing technology. Cirrus, in fact, is already working on an SBIR contract to investigate lower-cost composite construction techniques. One encouraging trend, of course, is that from pocket calculators to handheld GPS receivers, technology has a history of becoming much more affordable as it matures.

The bottom line, however, is whether pilots and the general public want and will support the new technology. They are, after all, the customers who will make the purchase decisions that ultimately determine the future of the general aviation industry. Consequently, one of NASA's main tasks in the consortium is market research. After finding that many people were having trouble visualizing some of this new technology, NASA built a "concept demonstrator" to show both pilots and nonpilots what next-generation cockpit systems might entail.

Holmes acknowledges that pilots are probably the toughest group to sell on the new technology. Concerns range from pilots' being lured by cockpit displays into a heads-down-and-locked mode to a general resistance to any new technology that might be mandated by the FAA. Yet Holmes and other Agate program members believe that there is something very important that differentiates the kind of technology they are pursuing. Many pilots do not see any direct personal benefit to such items as Mode C transponders. But while the FAA might be able to use some of the Agate concepts to upgrade the national airspace system, the technology will also directly benefit pilots, greatly increasing the information they can obtain, while decreasing their work load.

There is also another incentive for pilots to support the Agate effort, according to consortium members. Holmes points to public- use airports that are closing at an average rate of 50 a year, an aviation trust fund surplus that sits unused, fixed base operators and manufacturers who are closing their doors, and the potential of increasingly restricted access to airspace for small aircraft. To reverse these trends, Holmes believes that GA needs to be seen as an integral part of the national transportation system. In addition, it needs to have a broader base of support — a base that can come only from expanding the number of pilots and GA airplanes and creating a healthier and more powerful GA industry.

It is their shared belief in the importance of this goal that has brought the Agate consortium members together and has driven them to overcome the obstacles encountered so far. "Everybody involved has bet the farm on this," Holmes says, "because they believe that it has to work."

To Holmes, it is still a matter of willpower. "If people — pilots and non pilots — want this, it can happen," he says. He acknowledges that the eight-year timeline for the Agate program is an ambitious one, but he is quick to put the challenge in perspective. After all, he points out, just eight years after President John Kennedy issued his famous pledge to the world, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.