MEBA2012: Visionsafe - clearing the cockpit

When dense black smoke pours into a cockpit, the pilots instantly don full-face breathing apparatus. But with continuous smoke, how long before their ability to see through the windscreen or read instruments is completely obscured?
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With three smoke incidents a day reported in the US commercial fleet (according to the FAA), this is a serious issue. If you can’t see, you can’t fly.
 
VisionSafe (stand 571) has the answer in its emergency vision assurance system (EVAS), designed to ensure sufficient pilot vision when the cockpit is filled with dense continuous smoke.
 
The simple, but effective, system consists of a plastic inflatable vision unit (IVU), which creates a contained pathway of clear air between the pilot and his critical instruments and windscreen. The system also filters visible particles out of the cabin air. The system is tailored to fit each individual aircraft type.
 
Bertil Werjefelt, president and CEO, VisionSafe Corporation, and inventor of the system, said: “There are a number of FAA regulations that require pilots to see at all times. This is impossible with smoke in the cockpit. It was smoke that caused the loss of the UPS plane in Dubai. The pilots couldn’t see to change frequencies.”
 
VisionSafe’s George Reenstra added: “We have done several hundred demonstrations in simulators. We have yet to have a pilot who successfully landed a plane with smoke in the cockpit. Yet they could when they used the EVAS.”

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