Malaysia Airlines became only the second carrier, and the first in Asia, to install the Honeywell Runway Awareness & Advisory System (RAAS) in its fleet, consisting of 92 jet aircraft.
Alaska Airlines, which operates into many terrain-challenged airports in Alaska that are nestled in mountainous terrain where a Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System is critical, is already operating with the audio warning system. RAAS is a software upgrade to Honeywell’s EGPWS.
Capt. Mohd Nawawi Awang, senior general manager for flight operations at Malaysia Airlines, and Frank Daly, president of commercial electronic systems at Honeywell, signed a contract for the RAAS order at the Paris Air Show yesterday. Awang says his airline is focusing on all aspects of safety and in particular the human factors often involved in runway incursion incidents. RAAS will give Malaysia Airlines pilots voice messages that will add to other references indicating where the aircraft is on the airport surface.
Daly says there is a lot of interest in RAAS. Other major airlines that are conducting flight trials to evaluate RAAS include Air France, Singapore, Lufthansa and Thai. Honeywell says its RAAS has just received its first European STC.—David Hughes
