Fri, Feb 06, 2009
Creator Hopes Data Will Be Shown On GPS Maps
A new Web site was launched recently, with a novel premise. True
to its name, Emergency Runways is billed as the industry's first
website for private pilots looking for a place to land in the event
of an emergency.
Craig Maiman, an electrical engineer and glider pilot, says he
came up with the idea for the website about a year ago. "I thought
why not use the power of the Internet to build a database of some
reasonable places to land in the event of an emergency? If you're
in a situation where the engine goes out, anything to improve your
odds is good.
"Having someplace to land that's already vetted by other pilots
is helpful -- especially if you're in the clouds or at night,"
Maiman notes. "You want to swing probability in your direction as
much as possible."
The site seems fairly simple to use. A pilot goes to the site,
and registers with a user name, password and email address. They
then mark up a Google Map of places they've noticed -- perhaps
while flying or even while driving around -- that might make good
emergency runways. It may be a strip of highway without power
lines, a smooth, flat field, or an abandoned
airstrip—anything that would give a pilot a viable option if
the power fails.
They may also rate the landing sites on a scale of A+ to C+ and
add comments. Additional pilots can rate and post comments on
existing sites in the database. The pilot posting is all done
anonymously, and the more pilots that contribute, the higher
quality and more comprehensive the database will be.
The database of worldwide landing sites will be freely
downloadable... with the hope that GPS manufacturers will
incorporate them into their systems. A pilot would then be able to
indicate to the system that "the power's failed, find me the
nearest and best place to land within gliding distance" -- and the
location would appear on the GPS display.
Until that happens, pilots may check out the site ahead of a
planned flight, to see any emergency landing areas listed along
their route.
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