Don Bateman, who developed several generations of ground-proximity warning systems and other flight deck systems that prevented countless aviation accidents and countless more deaths, died May 21 in Bellevue, Washington, U.S. He was 91.
A native of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering, Mr. Bateman spent most of his career at Honeywell Aerospace and its predecessor companies.
He held 40 U.S. patents and 80 patents in other countries for a succession of systems that enhanced aviation safety, including the ground-proximity warning system (GPWS) and, later, the enhanced ground-proximity warning system (EGPWS), which warns pilots if an aircraft is dangerously close to the ground. The systems, which he developed with a team of Honeywell engineers, are credited with a significant reduction in controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accidents, which occur when …
