DALLAS — On January 2, 2024, a Japan Airlines (JL) Airbus A350 collided with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft while landing at Haneda Airport (HND) in Tokyo. The A350 caught fire, but, thankfully, all 379 passengers and crew evacuated safely.

However, five of the six Coast Guard crew members died. Investigations are focusing on miscommunication and air traffic control procedures leading to the collision. If only there had been an automated cockpit alerting system in place to warn the pilots in time to prevent this tragedy. 

Well, it so happens that such systems are slowly coming online for commercial, business, and general aviation aircraft. To demonstrate and promote its solution, Honeywell Aerospace flew its Boeing 757 Flying Testbed to Atlanta in early April for a briefing and demonstration flight. ‍

Airways, along with other aviation journalists and Honeywell engineers and staff, was invited to fly along.

Surf-A, Smart-X

Around 1,600 to 2,000 runway incidents are reported to the FAA each year (although there are likely many more occurring), with many coming close to potential disaster. Multiple layers of prevention, including procedures, training, and ATC safety alerts, are required to close all the holes that can lead to an accident. Honeywell’s new solution, Surf-A, closes even more holes by providing pilots with both aural and visual alerts of potential runway hazards. The company refers to it as “a third set of eyes in the cockpit.”

Surf-A provides alerts for four conditions: traffic on arrival, traffic behind, traffic on runway, or traffic intersecting runway incursions. In addition to the pilots hearing the system call out the warning, such as “Traffic on Runway,” they will also see a simultaneous warning displayed on the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS). 

Honeywell developed the EGPWS in the 1970s to prevent controlled flight into terrain. It’s required on all commercial aircraft and is where Surf-A will live.

Of course, such technology will only provide warnings of other aircraft that are also broadcasting their position.

The system, which is still being fine-tuned, is expected to receive certification in 2026. It will be installed as a software update in the traffic computer linked to the GPWS. No significant changes to the aircraft are required. Honeywell is positioning Surf-A to multiple customer segments, including airlines and commercial transport, as well as business jets and private aircraft. 

Surf-A works in conjunction with the already-certified Smart-X products SmartRunway and SmartLanding, which advise pilots, again, both visually and aurally, of a wide range of dangerous conditions, including taxiway takeoff, incorrect takeoff flaps, and too high, fast, or unstable on approach.

“This system provides a direct alert to the pilot of a direct collision on the runway,” Honeywell says. “There’s no other product on the market that does that. There is some avoidance technology now and of course Air Traffic Controllers who can get an alert to the pilot. And while that’s a great system, it adds the risk of delays and human error. Our system provides a faster and less error-prone alert so that the pilots can make a maneuver when seconds mean the difference between life and death.”

Complete information on these systems can be found online.

The Flight

We met with Honeywell at Signature Aviation, the FBO across the north runways from the terminals at ATL, near Delta’s and Southwest’s maintenance facilities. Staff from the company briefed us on the products and on what we would encounter on the demonstration flight. 

We would depart ATL and fly to Albany, GA (ABY), about 150 miles south, and execute a test card of scenarios that would demonstrate Surf-A and Smart-X capabilities. 

• Surf-A: Aircraft on runway while landing and go-around
• Smart-X: Approach to the wrong surface (taxiway) and go-around
• Smart-X: Unstable approach (wrong flaps, too high, unstable, long landing) to go-around
• Smart-X: Excessive speed to full stop
• Surf-A: Traffic on runway on takeoff
• Smart-X: Wrong Surface Takeoff (taxiway)
• Smart-X: Wrong flaps to normal takeoff

A King Air would fly ahead of us and act as the intruder aircraft.

When the briefing was concluded, it was time for us to fly on the 757. And I must say, it's one hell of an airplane. check out the flight in the video below.

Now heavily modified, N757HW is registered as an experimental aircraft. It’s the fifth B757 to roll off the assembly line in June 1982, entering service with Eastern Airlines in 1983. Honeywell acquired the jet in 2005, and it has since traveled to over 30 countries, clocking over 4,000 hours over 1,000 flight tests. 

For our flight, it was configured with a dozen seats at the front of the cabin, reserved for test equipment, and additional seating farther back.

A large video monitor mounted on the front wall would allow us, the passengers, to see both the pilot’s view of the flight and close-ups of various instruments, where warnings would appear.  We were provided with headsets that allowed us to hear the warnings, as well as the pilots talking to air traffic control (ATC).

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After a tour of the plane and a safety briefing, it was time for us to take off from ATL, and the takeoff in this plane was thrilling. B757s are powerful aircraft even when fully loaded. But this mostly empty jet took off like a rocket, and we quickly ascended to 18,000 feet to fly the 20 minutes to ABY. We passengers monitored the aircraft’s presence on the GPWS via the video screen, and soon we lined up for the final approach.

As we approached runway 05 in ABY, the King Air taxied onto the runway. Quickly, we heard the callout: “Traffic on the Runway!” and with the next sweep of the GPWS, a text warning was also displayed. With plenty of time to avoid a collision, we abandoned the landing and executed a go-around. Surf-A was doing its job.

On our second approach to the wrong surface (i.e., the taxiway), Smart-X similarly warned us, and we aborted the landing and went around without incident.

Our next two approaches were the most fun and memorable. The pilots flew as though we were in an unstable approach, vigorously rocking both the aircraft and its passengers.  SmartX called out and displayed the warnings: “Flaps!” “Too High!” “Unstable!” “Long Landing!” and the attempt was aborted as we skimmed down the runway at about 100 feet before climbing for the go-around.

Then it was time to land – at excessive speed! The pilots put the plane down with a bang, not braking immediately, to allow it to roll down the 6,600-foot runway. The system called out: “Three thousand feet!” “Two thousand feet!” “One thousand feet!” “500 feet!” And we finally braked to a stop almost on the numbers.

The pilots then made a U-turn with the 757 at the end of the runway and began a takeoff attempt. But as thrust was added, the King Air intruded onto the runway. As soon as the jet hit 50 knots, Surf-A called out a warning: “Traffic on Runway!” and takeoff was aborted. 

Likewise, when we positioned the test plane to take off from a taxiway, as soon as we hit 40 knots, Smart-X screamed “On Taxiway!” with a visual warning appearing on the GPWS.

With the text card completed, it was time to return to ATL. For this segment of the excursion, I had the privilege of strapping into the jump seat. It was my first time taking off in the cockpit of such a large aircraft, and watching the pilots work up close. Power came even faster as we took off—from the runway, much shorter than those in ATL—and we blasted out of ABY into the clear blue sunny morning. 

The brief flight back to ATL led to a landing that was MUCH smoother than our splashdown in ABY, and we taxied back across to Signature Flight.

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