Safety
Honeywell Expands Runway Safety Toolset with Surf-A
Surf-A FAA approval is expected in 2026
The Honeywell testbed 757 aircraft in Kansas City, Missouri
The Honeywell testbed Boeing 757 on the ramp at Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (KMKC), August 2025. © AIN/Amy Wilder

Honeywell recently brought its Boeing 757 testbed to Kansas City to demonstrate its ground safety cockpit tech. Included in this demo were its newest runway safety addition—Surface Alerts (Surf-A)—along with its already-certified SmartRunway/SmartLanding (Smart X), which helps pilots avoid wrong-surface events and runway excursions. Both create direct cockpit alerts hosted on Honeywell Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) units.

While Smart X has been available for roughly a decade, Honeywell expects Surf-A certification on transport-category aircraft next year, pending approvals and ongoing successful flight tests and demos on the 757. Surf-A is an EGPWS-hosted software upgrade, designed to be retrofitted across a broad installed base.

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