SkyVoice Glassy Guide 400 Improves Water Airplane Safety
September, 2024
With seaplanes, takeoff and landings involving glassy water can be especially dangerous due to the lack of visual surface features and varying conditions. This calm water provides a challenging environment even for experienced pilots to estimate the height from plane to water.
When confusion occurs regarding height above the water, pilots often experience spatial disorientation with sensory conflicts, illusions, confusion, and a lack of balance. Humans are designed to maintain spatial orientation on the ground.
The three-dimensional environment of flight is often unnatural to the human body and can impact pilots in ways depending upon health factors and individual attributes. Vertigo and air sickness may often occur. According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, 5 to 10% of all general aviation accidents can be attributed to spatial disorientation, 90% of which are fatal.
Holy Micro!
The SkyVoice Glassy Guide 400 and SkyVoice Alert 500 are inventions by Frank Kunnumpurath. Ten years ago, he was a student pilot, who struggled to determine the height for a flare, which occurs between the final landing approach and touchdown of a fixed-wing aircraft.
Frank is currently a private pilot with his instrument rating and more than 600 hours of flight time. He sees the SkyVoice products as digital co-pilots to improve safety in the 500 feet range of airspace near land or water where most accidents happen.
The SkyVoice Alert 500 was developed as a takeoff and landing height announcer with vocal warnings approved to install in all general aviation aircraft under the FAA’s Non-Required Safety Enhancing Equipment (NORSEE) program.
Frank and his company, Holy Micro! have now introduced a new product named the SkyVoice Glassy Guide 400 (FAA Approved), which uses Radar instead of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). The company’s HMR400 Radar is designed for both water and ground. This technology is also suited for rain, snow, fog, dust and other harsh environments.
The SkyVoice Glassy Guide 400 provides height announcements and reminders from 10 ft. to 400 ft. The four reminders from 400 ft. to 100 ft. can be used for specific checks at varying height intervals.
These intervals can include: 400 gear check, 300 checklist, 200 flaps, and 100 speed as well as many other options. Following the 100 ft. announcement, the pilot will hear height announcements at 70, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2, 1 to help ensure an efficient, smooth and safe water landing. The tool helps prevent the pilot from accidently descending, turning, or contacting the water. Pilots often stall the plane from too high or slam into the water too low.
When taking off, the height announcements can improve the safety of water takeoffs and landings. As these announcements occur up to 400 ft., the pilot can ensure a positive and confident rate of climb. During breaking from the glassy water, where it is difficult to reference height and distance. Also, water pilots often worry about retracting gear after takeoff from land and can use the range of from 10 ft. to 400 ft. to check gear.
If the pilot experiences any spatial disorientation or vestibular-ocular equilibrium issues, then the SkyVoice Glassy Guide 400 can assist their effort to fight through the disorientation and keep the plane on a proper trajectory prior to safety issues or creating a dangerous flight situation.
Technology
The SkyVoice Glassy Guide 400 brings an advanced technology solution to water takeoffs/landings and removes reliance on visual cues. This tool removes the height guessing and brings 21st Century precision to an important issue when flying an aircraft near water.
HMR400 Radar uses 24GHz-ISM frequency band, which has strong anti-interference ability. This band produces clear and reliant signals resulting in high-quality information. The compact size and light weight makes it ideal for general aviation aircraft.
Compared to other 24GHz Radars on the market, HMR400 has only a 45-degree field of vision (FoV -6dB), which makes it more suitable to install under the wing or the tail and still avoid float and other protrusions from the FoV.
Quick Install Kit for SkyVoice Glassy Guide 400
The rechargeable battery powered Quick Install Kit comes with standard action camera attachments and Bluetooth audio. This kit allows for a temporary connection to the SkyVoice Glassy Guide 400 at any location under the wing or the tail to see which location provides the best result while avoiding turbulence and aerodynamic drag.
After deciding on the best location for installation, the pilot can remove the unit from the action camera and proceed with the permanent wired installation as per the manufacturer’s instructions.
The SkyVoice Glassy Guide 400 enclosure is made of high quality aircraft aluminum, and it comes in four different colors: red, black, silver, and blue. It comes in an insulated carrying case with a detachable handle to make it easy to hook it to a backpack or flight bag.
Acknowledgment: The original press release was published on AVIATION DIGEST. You can view the full release here(Page No - 14).