Honeywell last week at the Paris Air Show launched SmartLanding, a product intended to reduce runway excursions by alerting pilots if the aircraft’s approach is unstable and at risk for an unsafe landing. “Runway excursions cost the global industry about $900 million every year,” said Honeywell Aerospace vice president for airlines Mike Madsen. “Honeywell’s SmartLanding for airline and business aviation reduces that risk by providing alerts to pilots if the aircraft is approaching the runway too high, too fast or is not configured properly for landing–common components of an unstabilized approach.” SmartLanding is a software enhancement to Honeywell’s EGPWS, which is already installed on more than 30,000 airline and business aircraft. Through a simple software upgrade to EGPWS, SmartLanding improves pilot situational awareness and helps break the chain of events that can lead to a runway excursion, by providing aural and visual alerts on the approach only if the aircraft has not met established safety criteria. Using GPS data, SmartLanding generates alerts by comparing aircraft position, speed and flight path with airport runway locations stored in Honeywell’s worldwide terrain and runway database.