Pilots test cockpit alert system that could prevent close calls on the runway

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Engineers are in the final testing phase of a cockpit alert system they say could prevent close calls on the runway.

Honeywell Aerospace's "Surface Alert System," or "SURF-A," can detect when a rogue aircraft gets in the way of another plane that has been cleared for takeoff or landing. The system gives pilots two aural alerts when an unauthorized aircraft enters the runway on a collision course with the authorized aircraft. The first alert sounds 30 seconds before a collision, and the second alert sounds 15 seconds before a collision.

"It sounds like such a small amount of time, but things happen so rapidly, and 15 to 30 seconds is actually a very, very large margin when you're moving at the speeds that w