The FAA has reached agreements with four U.S. airlines to fund in-cockpit runway safety systems, in this case electronic flight bags (EFBs), in exchange for the operational data those systems would generate. Under the plan, the FAA will provide $600,000 each to SkyWest Airlines, Piedmont Airlines, US Airways and Southwest Airlines to invest in the new technology in airplanes they’ll fly into and out of 21 testbed airports.
Each airline will install the technology in 20 aircraft by May 15 next year. The agency expects to collect the initial results from the data analysis by next September. Each agreement remains in effect through September 2011. Meanwhile, the FAA continues to review other airlines’ proposals to deploy the technology, and it said it expects to announce other awards as part of the $5 million program. The agency chose the testbed airports based on their history of runway incursions or runway “safety issues.”
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