Seeing the future

The EVS plays on the head-up display (HUD) in these jets, and its cloud- and fog-penetrating infrared imagery allows instrument approaches to lower minimums. Those who think HUDs and EVSs live only in big-iron country may soon get a surprise. Honeywell, for example, has been working on a combined vision system (CVS) intended for the Pilatus PC–12 and new PC–24 jet. The CVS will use a “head-down” philosophy in which infrared-derived imagery is superimposed on a synthetic vision background on the primary flight display.

Then there’s MyGoFlight’s recent foray into a HUD aimed at airplanes from light jets to high-performance piston singles. This proposed system will project synthetic vision onto a compact HUD, providing safer transitions from instrument to visual flight, and vice versa.

Price doesn’t seem to be an issue. The Embraer HUD alone runs $275,000; the EVS is another $275,000. Buy the HUD and EVS together and it’s $500,000. Still, many have ordered the Embraer enhanced vision system. The Honeywell CVS will be “competitively priced,” according to company officials, but since it isn’t a true HUD, it should be comparatively economical. The MyGoFlight system’s price tag should be less than $50,000, installed, and as low as $10,000 if volume production ensues.

Seeing the runway on short final through low IFR conditions may seem like overreaching right now. But remember the first IFR-certified GPS navigators, with their tiny, monochromatic displays? It wasn’t long before we became addicted to 14/15-inch, full-color, wall-to-wall PFDs and MFDs. Now they’re common in airplanes as small as a Cessna Skyhawk. The same may well happen, quickly, with enhanced vision systems.

—Thomas A. Horne, Turbine Pilot Editor