Enhanced and Synthetic Flight Vision Systems

More advanced systems are coming into vogue, including the enhanced and synthetic flight vision systems. With each advance in technology the ability to operate aircraft in worse and worse conditions safely improves. A perfect example of operating an aircraft in close proximity to the ground in bad weather was the crash of the Tu-154 airplane at Smolensk in Russia. Despite warnings from ground controllers and advice to deviate to another airport, the pilots continued their attempts to land until the inevitable happened: the aircraft crashed.

The aircraft was designed in the 1960s and was not equipped with some of the modern technology presently available such as a Hud system, enhanced or synthetic vision, so the pilots had to rely upon conventional instrumentation and their own abilities to fly the aircraft to the runway.

The Kollsman EVS II All Weather Window® EFVS has been developed to improve the capability for commercial, business and military aircraft to execute precision and non-precision approaches and safely land in fog, rain, snow, and other reduced visibility conditions thereby reducing CFIT accidents. EVS II provides lower landing credit in accordance with current FAA and EASA EFVS regulations. The Kollsman EVS II is ideal for modern WAAS/SBAS RNP operations by providing a means to continue descent below decision height at all airports regardless of infrastructure and weather conditions. The Kollsman All Weather Window® EFVS also provides improved situational awareness during ground operations aiding in runway incursion accident reduction.

Enhanced flight vision systems place a real world visual image on top of a conformed image generated by an infrared camera mounted on the nose of the aircraft. The camera is to be placed as close to the pilot’s eye position in order to provide the proper visual cues to the pilot.

The FAA has only relaxed operating regulations allowing an aircraft with an EVS system installed to perform a Cat I approach to Cat II minimums. It is currently not legal to operate the aircraft below 100′ above ground level even if the EVS provides a clear visual image of the runway environment.

A Synthetic Vision System, on the other hand, uses terrain databases to create intuitive and realistic views of the outside environment. In this system the aircraft’s current flight path is computed along with the aircraft’s energy available and a view of the surrounding terrain.

This system uses a unique SVS symbol which displays a diminishing sideways ladder defining a tunnel in the sky through which the aircraft is flown in 3 dimensions. If the pilot can maintain the flight path vector along with the trajectory symbol the aircraft will fly the optimal path to touchdown.

Today a lot of this technology is finding its way into automobiles, enhancing safety for drivers in low light/visibility and night conditions. Once again drivers have found using HUDs in high light conditions while wearing sunglasses requires them to use non-polarized aviator sunglasses to avoid distortion or the inability to see the readouts properly.

Once again technology in aviation is leading the way in more than just aviation.

Until next time keep your wings straight and level Hersch!

First air show in Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

There are so many air shows all around the world which are been held annually. The main intention of these air shows is to promote newly manufactured aircrafts.  China is one of the main counties which held an air show recently. But it is not something common to Srilankans.

But it was found that an air show had been held in 1911 in Sri Lanka. It was just after 7 years from the 1^st flight of the world. First aircraft was bought to Sri Lanka in 12^th September 1911 by the ship “Rabenfels”. It was a “Bleriot Monoplane” where two passengers can travel. It was 1^st bought to Sri Lanka by a European whose name was Collin Brown. It worth Rs.7490/-

(This how the Ceylon Independence newspaper has reported the news)

It had an engine with 50 horse power and that cylinder contained 7 cylinders. The breadth of the air craft was 28ft and it was 32ft in length. Length of one wing was 13ft. and the speed of the air craft was approximately 100 miles per hour. 

The aircraft which had been bought in September was exhibited for the general public in November. And there Rs.10/- was charged from each person to visit the exhibition.  It was a big amount for these days. The exhibition was held for 6 days and in the 2^nd day of the exhibition the entrance fee was deducted to rs.3/-. 

Civil Aircraft Accident Investigation

Civil aviation authority of Sri Lanka is the place which manages the safety and security of the aviation sector in our country. According to the establishment enactment of civil aviation authority and the rules and regulations of aviation sector the right to handle the procedure of search and rescue of accident investigation is owned by the civil aviation authority. The main intention of investigating an air crash is to reveal the caused reasons for the crash and prevent it by happening in the future once again.  The right of investigating the air crashes faced by the military aircrafts of srilankan air force is owned by the Srilankan air force. The passenger aircrafts which have been registered in the Srilankan civil aircraft registration document or in any other foreign country are known as the civil aircrafts. Civil aviation authority only investigates the crashes faced by the aircrafts mentioned above.

If it is known that an air crash has took place all the known information including the identity of the informer should be informed to the civil aviation authority or most near by police station with a contact number. It is the thing which civil aviation authority looks forward from public.

Civil aviation authority can be contacted through following contact numbers.

Office time 0815hr-1615hr (except weekend and holidays)

011 233447 / 011 2391462 / 0112433213

24 hours

0777 352081 / 0777352082 / 0777 352083

Fax

011 2424540 / 011 2440231

Can the largest passenger aircraft land safely at Katunayake Airport ?

It is said that the newsiest airport which is being built at Maththala will have runways which are made to land the biggest aircrafts in the world. Today my topic will be based on Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake.

As u all know a runway is used in both landing and taking off an aircraft. In the construction of a runway a highly specified technology and highly recommended materials are used. It should be constructed according to global standards. The types of aircraft which can be landed on a runway differ with the materials and the technology which heave been used in constructing the runway. The runways in Katunayake Airport have been made using Asphalt and the technologies used do agree with the global standards. Many of the aircraft used in present can be landed on these runways.

The breadth and the length of runways play a big role in the capability of landing an aircraft on them. If the runway is too long it more capable in lifting aircraft with a massive weight. (But there are some other issues which should be considered. That means a considerable breadth). Generally a runway is made as its rigidity get reduced

from middle to some extend through the breadth. And the ends are made with a low rigidity. These two ends are called as “Runway Shoulders” which cause the procedure of landing an aircraft. 

This is the runway in our airport. It is 45m wide in breadth. Each of the runway shoulders are 7.5m wide in breadth. So the total breadth of our runway is 60m. The area extended from middle to 150m away from there through breadth is called as “Graded Area”. The length of this runway is 3.35km.

Let’s consider the biggest passenger aircraft manufactured up to now. It is Airbus A380.

Airbus A380 is shown in the figure sketched in black colour. It is 73m in length. The breadth from one wing to another wing is 79.8m. it has four engines and the breadth between two engines is 64m. 

 Our runway is 60m in breadth. But the breadth between the wings of Airbus A380 is 79.8m. Now you will think in this way. If the landing gears can touch the runway and if the other parts of the aircraft do not touch the runway why the aircraft can not be landed on it? But the engines become the trouble. It is clear that the engines are away from the runway shoulders if it is landed. Engines suck air to combust fuel. The area away from the runway shoulders contains dirty air. So it won’t let the engines perform well. So it can lead for an air crash. But inside the runway shoulders the air is somewhat pure. So to land this aircraft we should extend our runway at least 7.5m in breadth. That means the total breadth of the runway shoulders must be 15m. Breadth of the middle area of the runway is quite enough to land this aircraft. That means 45m is enough. But to land this aircraft the runway must be capable in handling its weight. So the MTOW too is considered. (Maximum Take Off Weight). And also the friction force acted too in considered. The length to be traveled to take off increases with the weight of the aircraft. So there the length of the runway too is considered.

So it’s clear that Airbus A380 can not be landed due to our prevailing runway conditions in Katunayake International Airport.

Fighter Pilots Flirted With Danger

Bombing of Thamil Selvam and strategic LTTE locations

It was a bright and yet another usual day for all except the two `top guns’ of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF). Knowing that they were flying to bomb an important location, Group Captain Sajeewa Hendawitharane was air borne from Katunayake sharp at 5.30 am. Within 25 minutes they came closer to the `prey’. The MiG 27, the `weapon’ that flew at 1,000 km per hour and 18,500 feet above the ground took a surprise move.

With a deafening sound, the fighter jet, that flew just 100 metres above Kilinochchi town, dropped four 500 kgs bombs continuously on the location. The Israeli made Kfir, which followed the MiG 27, also flying low level dropped four 250 kg bombs.

The two Commanding Officers of the No. 12 Jet Squadron (MiGs) Group Captain Sajeewa Hendawitharane and No. 10 Jet Squadron (Kfirs) Shehan Fernando saw the rubble and the massive inferno around the location. They smelled the damage, but were bit suspicious whether the `most wanted man of that day’ - LTTE’s political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvam was dead or alive.

Fighter pilots of No 12 Squadron (MiG 27)-Left to Right :Flight Lieutenant Krishantha Kapugama (MiG-27 Squadron pilot) Flight Lieutenant Roshan Perera (MiG-27 Squadron pilot) Squadron Leader Ranga Thiranagama (Officer commanding Training MiG-27 Squadron) Group Captain Sajeewa Hendawitharana (Commanding Officer MiG-27 Squadron) Squadron Leader Asela Jayasekera (Officer Commanding Operations MiG 27 Squadron) Flight Lieutenant Indika Premadasa (MiG-27 Squadron pilot) Not in the Picture Flight Lieutenant Shyam Ranasinghe (MiG-27 Squadron pilot)

The two senior fighter jet pilots, who had flown from the western flank via Iranamadu and East of A-9 Road, successfully landed at Katunayake at 6 a.m. The SLAF Commander Air Marshal Roshan Goonetillake wanted the COs of the two Squadrons to lead the mission and it was just after 15 days of the LTTE attack on the Air Force Base at Anuradhapura.

“After analyzing the video images of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for couple of days and intelligence reports and also locations given by the Directorate of the Military Intelligence Commander and the Director Operations Air Commodore Harsha Abeywickrema directed us to take the target. They had identified three locations, but we had doubts whether the man we were to hunt down was there at that particular day and time. But according to information, he should have been there”, Hendawitharane said adding that they had two options to take a good kill.

One was making a missile attack and the other was to take some other targets to divert the attention and then take on the specific target. The SLAF Commander believed firmly in surprise attacks directed by the two fighter pilots to take a surprise move, but warned to be very careful about the vicinity as there were civilian houses around.

“We were warned not to exceed the perimeters of the boundary of the location and if that bomb went off damaging those houses I am sure the Commander would take `my neck’”, he giggled.

The duo got the happy news after five hours. The Director Operations called and congratulated them saying “You did it”.

“I felt a great relief as Thamilselvam did so much damages to us” CO of the No. 12 Squadron said.

Bombing Thamilselvam is just one among several achievements of the Squadrons. In 2000 for the first time, the MiG 27s were introduced and the second batch was inducted in 2007. They played a vital role in the Eelam War IV where the MiGs flew often `hunting’ - the LTTE’s training bases, bunkers, camps, important buildings and Sea Tiger bases.

The Squadrons, with seven fighter pilots, carried out over 845 sorties and dropped 1,071 tonnes of bombs and ammunition against the LTTE terrorists during the Eelam War IV. Earlier the fighter pilots who flew in F7 could drop only one bomb at a time, but the MiGs carried eight bombs weighting 500 kg each.

According to Hendawitharane, becoming a fighter pilot is a dream of every pilot of the SLAF. It is a graduation step by step. The seven MiG fighter pilots were first trained in K8 jet trainer. After completion of 100 hours they were `graduated’ to fly F7 which needed to complete 60 sorties to take into the MiG 23.

The smart guys always wearing sun glasses and looking relaxed are not so when they are at the cockpit of the MiG 27. It is a deadly one-man show. If their minds are not sound enough it is less than a second to end the story.

It is not so `rosy job’, but a one-man show where a single soul does communication, aviation and navigation. He is not relaxed until he touches back the soil for safety. Without even a few seconds to relax he is just like a machine which talks with towers, navigate from one place to another, finding the targets, being aware of the risks involved and remedies for them in emergencies, attacking the correct target and then flying to his own safety.

Explaining the advanced facilities the fighter pilots got under the supervision of the SLAF Commander, Hendawitharane said that the notable improvement was that they got the facilities for analyzing the targets using UAV and Beach Craft visuals in this war.

“First we study each and every target carefully and then decide the type of weapon that should be used to neutralize that particular target. Earlier we had only one type of bomb for every target. Whatever the damage caused from a general purpose bomb is very minimal and our Commander introduced most effective weapons for different targets like a bunker, a hideout, a house of an enemy, runways and floating objects like Sea Tiger movements. This time we did `target to weapon matching’. When there is a target we decide on the best weapon that we should use to neutralize that target and then we decide the number of bombs that we should drop to neutralize that target. We do not use maximum force, but the minimum force to destroy the target. We did not use three bombs when it required only two bombs to destroy a target”, he explained.

As Group Capt. Hendawitharane explained, the success of their targets should not only be a credit to the fighter pilots. He saluted the ground staff - from the technicians to those who guarded the hangers for giving the fighter pilots a hand.

They did a wonderful job. If I want to take off at 6 a.m. to neturtalize a target I should tell the technicians 24 hours before as they have to transport the bombs carefully from a different location. Though we flew at 6 a.m., the technicians commenced loading bombs into a special container after mid-night, and then carefully, transported them closer to the aircraft. Just imagine if four fighter jets are to be sent, the technicians need to load, unload and place 32 bombs which weigh 500 kgs each taking strict safety precautions.

They should place the bombs half and hour the pilot sits in the cockpit. They did a great job”, he appreciated their support given for the fighter pilots to release the bombs without a mistake.

Before taking off for the target, the pilots had a comprehensive briefing lasting for over two hours where they discussed the limitations - correct temperature, time factor, hydraulic pressure in the aircraft - they face when flying for the target.

“Since the pilot is flying alone, he needs to remember all these `lessons and advices’. If there is fire during take off he needs to know what exactly he is supposed to do as he hardly gets time to think. If there is hydraulic failure or a default in landing gears, he should know what to do”, he said.

No fighter pilot is allowed to fly unless the doctor recommends that he is medically fit. After the briefing, we go to the aircraft and launch the mission, which lasts from 55 minutes to an hour, the maximum.

The time depends on the distance. When carrying bombs it is a risk to fly high at high speed but at low level we flew at high speed as the possibility of the LTTE attacking us was there. But when flying low at very high speed there are risks like birding, high tension power lines, high ground and need to be 100 percent perfect.

“Imagine if flying 100 metres above the ground at that speed. 1,000 kph means you are flying 300 metres per second and if you are flying just 100 metres above the ground with less than one third of a second you will hit the ground”, he said recalling an occasion where he had to change the engine as a bird flew into the machine when taking off, in 1994.

A pilot with an experience of over 23 years in the SLAF, who had taken part in Eelam war I, II, III and IV, Hendawitharane said that they did night operations for the first time in the SLAF history during the Eelam war IV. He thanked the Commander and Director Operations for introducing night operations, where they first did flying under quarter moon face, half moon face and finally in total darkness.

Another significant change in their style of flying, according to the No. 12 Squadron Chief was the low level flying which the pilots had never done before.

“When doing high level bombing everyone can see and hear us. There were bunkers in every house. Thamilselvam, Pottu Amman and Prabhakaran had bunkers in their houses. When they heard a MiG they crept into the bunkers and they were safe there. When carrying out low level missions we just bombed and vanished. The element of surprise was 100 percent”, he explained.

These fighter pilots know the risk, but they dared not fly just 100 metres above the ground level amidst the LTTE pointing 30 mm guns to attack them when the target was designed to destroy a top leader or an important location like a massive training base.

“Low level flying kills you but it thrills you also. You get lots of fun as things are moving very fast”, he said.

“When the LTTE was boxed to Puthumathalan in the No Fire Zone, the fighter pilots could easily kill all the leaders in a one go, but the Commander had said `Lets allow the Army to finish this war’. We saw how the leaders were running, but if we dropped bombs we could not identify their bodies”, said Hendawitharane, who was alerted for over 21 days at China Bay with other fighter pilots to destroy the terrorists if they fled by sea.

A product of Trinity College, Kandy who joined the SLAF at the age of 18, the No. 12 Squadrons Commanding Officer said his happiest moment in life was the day that he was selected to fly fighter jets in 1991 when only five pilots had been chosen for the first time in the SLAF history to become fighter pilots of the SLAF.

According to him, the MiGs and fighter helicopters of the SLAF had changed the tide and the pilots who were so committed made a silent contribution since the beginning of the Eelam War IV, had destroyed the LTTE’s ammunition dumps, training camps and so many important places. He said that the fighter squadrons were happy about their past when they took on destroying the LTTE for over three and half years.

All the FIghter pilots in Sri Lanka Air Force just after the Victory Parade
Left to Right Flying Officer Chinthake Hettiarachchi (F-7 Squadron pilot) Flight Lieutenant Roshan Perera (MiG-27 Squadron pilot) Flight Lieutenant Prabhath Wijekoon (F-7 Squadron pilot) Squadron Leader Priyantha Udayakumara (Kfir Squadron pilot) Squadron Leader Vajira Jayakody (Officer Commanding Operations Kfir Squadron) Squadron Leader Poojana Gunathileke (Officer commanding Training F-7 Squadron) Wing Commander Sampath Wickramaratne (Commanding Officer F-7 Squadron) Group Captain Sajeewa Hendawitharana (Commanding Officer MiG-27 Squadron) Wing Commander Shehan Fernando (Commanding Officer Kfir Squadron) Squadron Leader Asela Jayasekera (Officer Commanding Operations MiG 27 Squadron) Squadron Leader Ranga Thiranagama (Officer commanding Training MiG-27 Squadron) Squadron Leader Dinesh Jayaweera (Officer Commanding Operations F-7 Squadron) Flying Officer Malinga Senanayake (F-7 Squadron pilot) Flying Officer Monath Perera (Kfir Squadron pilot)
(Not in photo) Flight Lieutenant Dinesh Nagasena (Officer commanding Training Kfir Squadron) Flight Lieutenant Krishantha Kapugama (MiG-27 Squadron Pilot) Flight Lieutenant Indika Premadasa (MiG-27 Squadron Pilot) Flight Lieutenant Shyam Ranasinghe (MiG-27 Squadron pilot)

According to Group Capt Hendawitharane, the life of a fighter pilot is very interesting with lots of challenges. “When you are a fighter pilot you can go wherever you want in the sky and if you want to reach a top of a huge cloud, you are just there. He said that the fighter pilots would not remember their loved ones or anything as they shoulder a huge responsibility.

“Simply we do not have time to think of anything else as the time for the prey is just an hour. Within that time we have to do everything alone”, he smiled.

The 30-year-old deadly battle is over. Will the job of the fighter pilots be over? “No, they will be the `guns’ who will display the power of the nation, which will boom with new harbours, air ports and tourists from the West”, he said.

With no regrets, the boss of the fighter pilots of the SLAF said that they drew great inspiration during the Eelam War IV when they never took targets to kill innocent civilians, but always inflicted the maximum damage on the terrorists.

“People know little about the occasions that the fighter pilots turned back abandoning the mission when they witnessed innocent people around”, he recalled.