Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine August 2017 - 8

Enhancement of Safety Measures to Prevent Air Accidents

Figure 2.

Adjustable wings and fuselage sheets can be designed on the principle
of gliders [11].

fuselage or wings, and/or on the tail of the aircraft. These areas would
depend on the kind of aircraft, its weight and momentum. A system
needs to be developed so that as soon as the onboard flight management system assesses that the aircraft is not following its intended
track and is descending in an unusual manner, it should first activate
the emergency handshake system and as the aircraft approaches, say
500 feet above the lowest safe altitude of the flight plan, it should
activate an onboard gliding system that would start disengaging the
propellers, shutting the jet engines down, and opening up the parachutes/balloons or additional fuselage cover and wing covers, etc.
that can take the weight of the aircraft and slowly glide the aircraft
towards the ground to a touch down with minimum impact. This system would work on the same principle as glider planes work or could
be that a system of hot air balloons may also be considered.

ADJUSTABLE WINGS/FUSELAGE LIKE GLIDERS
COMMENCE REAL TIME TRACKING

Additional fins, adjustable wings, and/or a fuselage cover of a suitable metal such as carbon fiber material or a composite material
There is also the need to activate a safety measure on board the
may be designed if parachutes and balloons are not able to take the
aircraft. Thus, as soon as the aircraft starts deviating from its
weight of the aircraft. This would depend upon the type of aircraft
scheduled/intended flight plan/path and crosses the 20% margin,
in question. Figure 2 shows how gliders are constructed [11]. The
an emergency handshake system is activated; the SDU on board
proposed additional wings/fuselage sheets could be placed on these
should also start sending messages to satellite and ground stations
lines following the same principles of glider construction and aeroalong with the aircraft's position as per the GPS fitted on board.
dynamics. These additional sheets would be fitted flush with the
This would enable tracking the aircraft passively in real time.
actual superstructure so that the aerodynamics of the aircraft does
not change and they would also spread up only when the system
is activated. This would require adding of additional weight to the
OPERATE ONBOARD GLIDING SYSTEM-PARACHUTE OR
aircraft and thereby compromising on its carrying capacity. This reADJUSTABLE WING/FUSELAGE/TAIL SHEET
duction of available commercial space could however be offset by
increasing the fare marginally but will surely save the precious lives
Besides commencing the procedure of real time tracking, there should
of many passengers.
be a system known as a "Gliding System" to smooth the flight path
The additional metal sheet could be made of the same material as
of the aircraft, especially on descent. Something akin to parachutes
the fuselage and wings. They would come up as indicated in orange
or balloons (that can take the weight and momentum of the aircraft)
color in Figure 3. The aircraft would then act as a glider and glide
needs to be developed and superimposed on the nose/front portion,
down smoothly towards the ground.
Another view of how the additional metal sheet would spread up on
the wings of the aircraft is shown in
Figure 4 (the sheet is indicated by the
red color). This apparatus would open
upwards and remain connected to the
wings at the same angle of attack at
which the wings should be when flying
level or as considered safest for that particular type of aircraft where it is being
fitted. The pilot may be given the option
to operate these wings when the aircraft is about 500 feet above the ground
level. The altitude of the aircraft at any
given time would be obtained from the
altimeters fitted on board and passed
on to the emergency operating system
through the flight management system
Figure 3.
where at that altitude it can unlock the
Indicates how additional metal sheets can be attached on fuselage/wings/rear elevators [12].
operation of the wings if taken over by
8

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

AUGUST 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine August 2017