Don Bateman, inventor of the GPWS, has died | Hacker News Reader

Don Bateman, inventor of the GPWS, has died

avherald.com

105 pointscf100clunk21 comments

Some direct link context on ground proximity warning system (GPWS)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_proximity_warning_sys...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrain_awareness_and_warnin...

Or, to provide an excerpt:

>> "Prior to the development of GPWS, large passenger aircraft were involved in 3.5 fatal [controlled flight into terrain] accidents per year, falling to 2 per year in the mid-1970s. A 2006 report stated that from 1974, when the U.S. FAA made it a requirement for large aircraft to carry such equipment, until the time of the report, there had not been a single passenger fatality in a [controlled flight into terrain] crash by a large jet in U.S. airspace."

Preventing 2 aircraft accidents per year is a very impressive legacy.

>> Note: "After 1974, there were still some CFIT accidents that GPWS was unable to help prevent, due to the "blind spot" of those early GPWS systems. More advanced systems were developed." (i.e. flying into a vertical feature that a down-looking radar altimeter can't see)

TAWS and GPWS have made a tremendous impact on aviation safety. Beyond providing information to the pilots, I've found GPWS alerting rates very useful in identifying potential safety issues. While I know not everyone is a fan of our strict rules regarding inclusion of TAWS, TCAS, GPWS, ADS-B, etc., bringing together all that safety data [0] has really helped us run effective Safety Management Systems [1].

0: https://portal.asias.aero/

1: https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/sms

Obituary at the Seattle Times:

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/don-bateman-saved-more...

Previous HN discussion of his GPWS system:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12261578

Wikipedia article on Ground Proximity Warning System:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_proximity_warning_syste...

from the Seattle Times obit:

"When he handed in his piece, she told him: “You sure can’t spell. You’re going to be an engineer.”"

"...Bateman’s attitude was always to get some new technology up and running, even if it was only 60% of the solution.

“His approach was, let’s get it done and fill in the other 40% as we gain experience over time,” Ishihara said."

Obit mentions he ran in long distance races. A search of athlinks.com for "Donald Bateman" born in 1932 shows mostly races around the turn of the 21st century with one result from a 1982 Mercer Island half marathon in 1:37:11.

see https://www.athlinks.com/search/unclaimed?category=unclaimed...

> "You sure can’t spell."

Bateman: "Let's see Paul Allen's spelling."

C. Donald Bateman:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Donald_Bateman

The Seattle Times obit probably should be the OP. The current OP in the AV Herald is a few paragraphs.

[1] is the story of American Airlines flight 965, one of the flights that originally spurred adoption of the EGPWS. They say regulations are written in blood, and the stories of the development of a lot of airborne safety equipment are similar. The original GPWS was implemented, in large part, because of the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 [2]

The first citation is from Admiral Cloudberg, an excellent writer who focuses on articles about aircraft accidents. Each is a 15-30 minute read and I've enjoyed them all.

[1] https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/children-of-the-magenta-...

[2] https://www.juneauempire.com/news/the-disaster-that-taught-u...

Ground Proximity Warning System

…for those who aren’t into aviation

RIP; Don Bateman has performed the ultimate terrain escape manoeuvre now.

Retired at 84 in 2016!

Pull up! Pull up!

And if you're really into it... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FwwBYzU2gE&

https://youtu.be/4qsFI9l0bJk I’ll do one better, here’s a video explaining the system and shows how to escape dangerous terrain in a flight simulator. :)

Reminds me of the "Bitchin' Betty" (VWS) samples from Falcon 3 flight simulator.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_warning_system

T E R R A I N

T O O L O W, T E R R A I N

R E T A R D

You must be an Airbus who insults its pilots and only allows them to offer suggested inputs rather than direct-direct law.

Well it's half French, so the pilots are lucky that's the only thing they get called.

One of the greatest engineers to ever live. RIP Don.

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