The Runway Awareness and Advisory System (RAAS) is an electronic detection system manufactured by

Honeywell Aerospace Honeywell Aerospace is a manufacturer of aircraft engines and avionics, as well as a producer of auxiliary power units (APUs) and other aviation products. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, it is a division of the Honeywell International conglome ...

, that notifies aircraft flight crews on the ground of their position relative to their allocated

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

Overview

According to Honeywell, who developed RAAS,

runway incursion A runway incursion is an Aviation accidents and incidents, aviation incident involving improper positioning of vehicles or people on any runway, airport runway or its Critical_area_(aeronautics), protected area. When an incursion involves an ''a ...

s are a leading cause of aviation accidents and fatalities, costing approximately $1 billion annually. RAAS functions by providing audible alerts to confirm runway identification, and also provides an aural alarm if it detects undue acceleration (indicating an attempt to take off) while the aircraft is on any

taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with aprons, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller general aviation airports sometimes use gravel ...

instead of a designated runway. Its function is possible by a software enhancement to the aircraft's

terrain awareness and warning system In aviation, a terrain awareness and warning system (TAWS) is generally an on-board system aimed at preventing unintentional impacts with the ground, termed "controlled flight into terrain" accidents, or CFIT.Federal Aviation AdministrationInsta ...

(TAWS) or enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS).

Entrance into service

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest airline in North America when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and the numb ...

announced in September 2008 that its entire airline fleet of

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...

s will be equipped with RAAS by the end of September. That will be the first airline fleet to be completely equipped with this system.

Aviation Week & Space Technology ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aerospace, defense and aviati ...

, Vol. 169 No. 10, 15 September 2008, "RAAS-Ready", p. 16

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...

was the first European airline to introduce RAAS. In 2016 Ryanair committed to equip all its fleet with RAAS, which was mostly complete by 2019.

References

External links

The Safety Impact of RAAS
Avionics Runway safety Airport infrastructure {{Airport-stub