Of all the alerts the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) can provide, “terrain, pull up” would seem most likely to get a pilot’s attention immediately — and the quickest action. Or not.
In fact, responses take place about as fast — most often, in two seconds — regardless of the alert type, according to data prepared for presentation in October at the 65th annual International Air Safety Seminar, presented by Flight Safety Foundation and the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association in Santiago, Chile.
EGPWS is now installed on more than 40,000 turbine-engine and turboprop airplanes worldwide. The system has helped significantly in reducing the risk of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). But EGPWS, for all its technical sophistication, is an alerting device; the response of the flying pilot to the alert is the essential factor in avoiding CFIT.
Yasuo Ishihara of Honeywell Aerospace, which designed and manufactures the EGPWS, pr…
