The Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport officials broke ground Tuesday on the National Air Mobility Center of Excellence. The center will bring new, advanced aerospace technology and jobs to the Miami Valley. WYSO’s Garrett Reese was there and had a hands-on experience with a piece of new tech.
The National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence will be a hub of new technology and partnerships between the Center, local universities, the government, and businesses.
One of these partners is Elbit Systems of America. It works on aviation technology for commercial and military purposes. Elbit demonstrated one of its new pieces of technology: a specialized visor worn by helicopter pilots with a live display.
It overlays a bright green display on your vision, showing you the horizon, terrain, and all of the information you need to fly on top of what you’re actually seeing. Think of a real-life video game with accurate terrain information, shifting cameras and filters to allow for better visibility, and more.
Dennis McIntire is the Director of Business Development with Elbit.
"If the trees have grown up over the years and hasn't been updated or there's a tower and some wires that haven't been put on there, this system would pick them up," McIntire said. "We can also do satellite overlays. So a system like this provides complete situational awareness and in an intuitive manner, your grandmother could put this helmet on and know where she is in space and time."
McIntire said this system should make flying safer for commercial and military pilots.
