Article by: Darren Griffin
Date: 22 Dec 2009

Private Pilots will soon have access to an affordable touch screen device loaded with a CAA approved chart which incorporates a definitive controlled airspace database.

The Airspace Awareness Device - AWARE has been designed by the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) and aviation satnav outfit Airbox and offers, for the first time, a low cost 4.3" colour touch screen device that will alert pilots and so prevent them flying into controlled airspace.

Such incidents are a growing problem world-wide with 600 such incidents recorded in the UK alone in 2008. The dangers of flying into controlled airspace, danger areas or restricted airspace are obvious.

The Aware device allows a pilot to quickly ascertain their position and avoid intrusions into restricted airspace using a system of visual and audible warnings overlaid on a CAA chart. Warnings are altitude sensitive and contain all the necessary information such as class, distance, levels etc.

Each unit comes pre-loaded with a 1:500,000 chart and a navigation pack can be added which provides for destination and waypoints to be entered and track, bearing, groundspeed, distance and ETE to be displayed. An internal battery will power the device for approximately 2hrs but cockpit power is recommended.

The base Aware unit costs £149 inc VAT, the Aware unit with navigation comes in at £249 and you can upgrade a base unit to add navigation for £119. All airspace warning updates are provided free of charge and charts can be updated at extra cost as desired.

Aware Warning Display (Left) and Aware with Navigation (Right).

Aware is available to purchase from the web-site on 3rd January. For more information see www.airspaceaware.com.

Comments Posted by forky on Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:05 am Being an Ex Military Navigator, anything that stops PPL Pilots drifting into controlled airspace is a good thing, the consequences are un-thinkable. But what happened to the basics of map reading, one must cross refer an electronic device with the chart all the time, or has electronic navigation replaced common sense. Garmin Nuvi 2699lmt Samsung Galaxy S9 (o2) contract   Posted by Darren on Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:14 am No-one can argue that a pilot should maintain the ability to read and reference a map and not to rely on an electronic device for positional awareness. But this is about ensuring that pilots have a reliable, and up to date system that will provide visual and audible warnings should they enter controlled airspace. Many pilots already use GPS in some form and so personally I think NATS should be applauded for making the data available free and in a device that unusually for aviation related equipment is an absolute bargain. Anything that encourages pilots to avoid these incidents has to be for the better? Darren Griffin