The Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto-GCAS) enhances safety by mitigating

controlled flight into terrain In aviation, a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT; usually ) is an accident in which an airworthy aircraft, under pilot control, is unintentionally flown into the ground, a mountain, a body of water or an obstacle. In a typical CFIT scenari ...

(CFIT) accidents. The Auto-GCAS team was awarded the 2018

Collier Trophy The Robert J. Collier Trophy is an annual aviation award administered by the U.S. National Aeronautic Association (NAA), presented to those who have made "the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to im ...

for the design-integration and flight testing in the

F-35 The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide ele ...

, marking the year's greatest achievement in aeronautics. This team includes the

Air Force Research Laboratory The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research organization operated by the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of aerospace warfighting technologies, p ...

, Lockheed Martin, the

Joint Program Office, the Defense Safety Oversight Council, and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

. The Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System uses inputs from terrain mapping, aircraft location, and automation to avoid ground collisions. The Auto-GCAS system detects imminent ground contact and warns the pilot. If there is no pilot response, the Auto-GCAS takes control, maneuvering to avoid ground contact. When on a safe trajectory, with pilot awareness, control returns to the pilot. Pilot unresponsiveness can be attributed to many factors including: distraction, task saturation, incapacitation, and unconsciousness. The Auto-GCAS system successfully reduced the leading cause of

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful ...

pilot fatalities. NASA started working on Auto-GCAS starting in 1997. The system was then jointly developed at the Lockheed Martin

Skunk Works Skunk Works is an official pseudonym for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (ADP), formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. It is responsible for a number of aircraft designs, beginning with the Lockheed P-38 Lightn ...

and at

. In July 2019, seven years ahead of schedule, Lockheed Martin began integration of Auto-GCAS into the F-35 fleet.

References

{{Portal bar, Aviation, United States Aviation safety Aircraft collision avoidance systems Collier Trophy recipients 2018 in aviation Aviation history of the United States Air Force Research Laboratory NASA

Research Lab Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness t ...