Aircraft

Land-DAR uses lasers to improve safety of small plane landings

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Land-DAR is designed to help pilots measure altitude during landings
Airtext
Land-DAR is designed to help pilots measure altitude during landings
Airtext
The Land-DAR unit
Airtext

Airtext has released a simple laser altimeter for small aircraft to make approaches and landings safer. The app-controlled Land-DAR (Land Distance and Ranging) is configured through an iOS or Android app and calls out altitudes as the aircraft descends.

The approach and landing phase of a flight is one of the most dangerous, making up over 40 percent of accidents. As a result, technology has been developed to minimize the hazards and military and commercial aircraft now have access to an array of GPS systems, approach and landing beacons, and Ground Proximity Warning Systems (GPWS). Combine these with increasingly autonomous flight avionics, and we now live in an age where flight crews carry out takeoffs and landings mainly as a way of keeping their skills sharp.

However, small private aircraft are limited in the landing aids available to them, and many pilots of prop planes rely on methods that Charles Lindbergh would recognize. Because conventional altimeters are not very precise and are distracting to read while touching down on a runway, pilots rely on visual cues to gauge altitude.

The Land-DAR unit
Airtext

Unfortunately, these cues aren't always reliable. An unusually narrow or wide runway, oddly sized trees, or simply poor visibility make it all too easy to misjudge altitude, resulting in everything from a broken undercarriage to a fatal crash. Even skilled older pilots can have problems because depth perception deteriorates with age.

To help prevent such accidents, Land-DAR is designed as a simple device consisting of a lidar unit that can be installed in a pressurized or unpressurized compartment, an interface module to connect to the aircraft's audio system, and connecting wires. The whole thing weighs in at only 14 oz (397 g).

Once installed, the Land-DAR is connected via Bluetooth to an app on an Apple or Android device, which allows the user to configure the mounting offset, setting volume, and desired callout altitudes, which can range for 500 to 5 ft (152 to 1.5 m). When operating, the Land-DAR can measure altitude 100 times per second, and is not susceptible to 5G cellular network interference.

The Land-DAR is certified by the US FAA under the Non-Required Safety Enhancing Equipment (NORSEE) Part 23 aircraft approval.

The video below shows Land-DAR in action.

Source: Airtext

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3 comments
darkcook
Isn't this just a radar altimeter? I'm not sure what is different about this. Most GA aircraft don't have radar altimeters due to cost. But most rotorcraft do. I guess if the price is MUCH cheaper than a radar altimeter, this could be a good thing.
Username
I hope there's a way to turn the voice off.
ljaques
$7,950 is not cheap, but nothing in airplane avionics is cheap. A Garmin setup can set you back $15k. I think I'd like that unit if I owned a small plane. As it is, I get my thrills vicariously via Trent Palmer's bush plane vids on YT. (Trent's Fox beeps more rapidly upon landing.) @darkcook: How many radar altimeters talk to you, saving your focus for visuals on landing rather than the instrument panel?