Mid-air helicopter crashes may become a thing of the past. The Lahav division
of Israel Aircraft Industries has developed a system that predicts collisions
during tactical missions and formation flights.
Called the tactical mid-air collision avoidance system, it alerts pilots on
the network of unexpected traffic with a 15-second or less impact path, a 40-meter
or less gap between helicopters, or a hover-landing situation.
The network, said a company official, “calculates collision conditions
using a dynamic, high-trajectory evaluation algorithm and automatically alerts
the pilot with recommended avoidance measures if a potential collision is predicted.”
Among its key components are a global positioning system, data link, and radio
altimeters that keep track of helicopters in the network.
Officials said the collision avoidance system possesses applications for both
military and commercial aircraft.