As the Gulfstream G200 simulator edged closer and closer to flying too slowly, below landing reference speed (Vref), the pilot at the controls feigned inattentiveness and allowed the airspeed to continue to deteriorate. Before the stick-shaker began its vibratory dance to let the pilot know that the speed was too low and to do something about it right away, a bright ring of green lights in the pilot’s peripheral view started flashing amber. The pilot didn’t react but maintained the same pitch angle and didn’t add power, and the flashing amber lights turned steady. The airspeed slowed even further, and it wasn’t until the light ring flashed and then turned red that he finally started a recovery, just moments before the G200 stalled.
We had gathered inside the G200 simulator at CAE’s Morristown, New Jersey, training facility, to see how Skov Aero’s Q-Alpha Flight Energy Awareness Display, also known as a low-airspeed alerting system (LAAS), might work in a typical business jet. The group included Skov Aero founder and chief engineer Andrew Skow and his son Geoff, a CAE technician, and four business aviation pilots. Only two pilots at a time were inside the simulator, which was not running on motion so we could observe and shoot video while the pilots tested the Q-Alpha device.
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