NASA software that may never let planes crash

NASA is developing an airplane technology that could literally give a whole new meaning to the term autopilot.

Washington, May 25 : NASA is developing an airplane technology that could literally give a whole new meaning to the term "autopilot".

Called the Intelligent Flight Control System, the futuristic software is meant to keep damaged planes fly right even in the face of catastrophic failure.

NASA believes the software will be immense benefit to both military and civilian jetliners.

Fighter pilots could return to safety with a shot-up wing, and a commercial jetliner could land safely even with a busted stabilizer.

The software would know how the airplane should fly, said James Smolka, a test pilot at the Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, who has been working on the project.

"If the plane starts to fly differently than it should, the system will adjust controls such as rudders, flaps, and engines to get it back on track. It will measure the actual [flight pattern] and know what it prefers to have. It will change the actual [flight pattern] to fly more like the desired," said Smolka.

According to Smolka, with this technology, even pilots who lack special training, on how to make those adjustments themselves, could stay in control of the plane.

"One example of where such technology could have been useful is Alaska Airlines Flight 261, which lost control of its horizontal stabilizer and spun into the Pacific Ocean off California on January 21, 2000. That airplane very likely could have been flown by a system like this without much difficulty," he said.

The technology could also prevent pilots from intentionally disabling a plane, the suspected cause of the EgyptAir Flight 990 crash, which occurred in the Atlantic Ocean near Nantucket, Massachusetts, on October 31, 1999, he said.

"Does it make sense for the pilot to shut both engines down on a two-engine plane?" said Smolka, referring to the EgyptAir crash.

"The Intelligent Flight Control System could prevent a pilot from making such an error, intentional or otherwise," he said.

"When errors are intentionally introduced, a few irregular motions are noticeable, but the airplane settles out pretty quickly," he added.

So far, Smolka has test-flown a modified F-15 Eagle aircraft with an early version of the control system.

However, the project has yet to really push the system with catastrophic failures that would normally result in a plane crash, he said.

"You can do that in a simulator pretty easily, but in the actual airplane it's a little more difficult to do. But at some point you do need to validate that the results you're getting in the simulator are the results you're going to get on an actual airplane," National Geographic quoted Smolka as saying.

"For now, however, the program lacks funding and prioritization to design, develop, and outfit planes with the technology," he added.

James Burin, director of technical programs for the Flight Safety Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia, said the technology would be most applicable to military aircraft, which have a greater risk of losing control.

"It is very rare for a commercial aircraft to have a malfunction of this type. The minimal decrease in risk this technology would provide to commercial aircraft is probably not worth the cost," Burin said.

ANI