Ella Atkins
Just months after a deadly collision between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet in Washington, D.C., the FAA is investigating another serious aviation incident in North Dakota.
On July 18, a SkyWest commercial airliner narrowly avoided a collision with a U.S. Air Force B-52 jet.
Virginia Tech aerospace engineer Ella Atkins weighed in on the close call, pointing to several concerning factors.
“It appears the Minot airport did not have radar, and the nearby Air Force base isn’t yet sharing its radar data publicly,” Atkins said. “The SkyWest plane would have been equipped with a collision avoidance warning system, but if the B-52 was not broadcasting its location, this system may not have detected it.”
Atkins, a long-time advocate for using artificial intelligence to enhance flight safety, acknowledges there’s a lack of public trust in the technology. Still, she believes that existing broadcast systems can help avoid near-calamities like this. For instance, most aircraft are equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance—Broadcast, which shares an aircraft’s position using GPS and other onboard systems.
“Although the Skywest result was far better than the accident at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in January, both incidents raise the question of whether military aircraft not facing an immediate threat should be required to carry Automatic Dependent Surveillance—Broadcast,” she said.
Atkins is head of the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech. Her research centers on the investigation of airspace and aircraft autonomy and safety. She is also a licensed private pilot.
Virginia Tech
