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Don Bateman's Brainchild Still Saving Lives After 50 Years
Don Bateman's Brainchild Still Saving Lives After 50 Years
Alaska Airlines Captain Brian Moynihan doesn’t mince words when he talks about legendary Honeywell engineer Don Bateman’s best-known aviation safety innovation.
“Don’s pioneering work in ground proximity warning system (GPWS) technology has saved countless lives worldwide and played a monumental role in reducing the fatal accident rate over the past 50 years,” said Moynihan, who also chairs the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) Safety Council. “ALPA is immensely grateful for Don’s inventions, which provide pilots with timely, accurate terrain and obstacle alerts.”
ALPA isn’t alone. In Bateman’s obituary, The Seattle Times heralded that “Don Bateman saved more lives than anyone in aviation history”, and the New York Times said the GPWS “likely saved thousands of lives.” Bateman, who retired in 2016 after 65 years with Honeywell and its legacy companies, died in 2023.
Bateman conceived the GPWS in the late 1960s at a time when controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) was the leading cause of fatal aircraft accidents in the U.S., according to Brad Miller, Honeywell Senior Chief Engineer for Surveillance and Data Communications technologies.
“A CFIT accident occurs when an airworthy aircraft under pilot control is unintentionally flown into the ground, a body of water or other obstacle,” he said. “With the GPWS mandate by the FAA in 1974 and the development of the enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS) in the 1990s – which Don also led – CFIT accidents involving commercial aircraft have become almost nonexistent.”
Senior Technical Fellow Yasuo Ishihara has been working on EGPWS for much of his 28-year Honeywell career and is now focused on adding new capabilities that will take the system far into the future. “Aviation is already the world’s safest mode of transportation,” he said. “I’m proud to work for a company like Honeywell that conceived and funded the research and development of the first ground-prox system and continues to innovate ways to make EGPWS even more effective.”
How Ground Proximity Warning Systems Work
The original GPWS used a radio altimeter to measure altitude and distance from obstacles directly under the aircraft. It also considered the aircraft’s configuration and flight path and warned flight crews if their aircraft was in immediate danger of flying into the ground, water or another obstacle.
The EGPWS incorporates terrain mapping data and three-dimensional GPS information to provide forward-looking capability and advanced aural and visual pilot warnings telling pilots to “Pull Up!” or take other evasive action. These warnings arrive about 20 seconds earlier than with the earlier-generation systems. EGPWS was mandated starting in 2005 for turbine aircraft carrying six or more passengers.
Now, Honeywell is adding runway alerting features to the EGPWS, which Honeywell insiders sometimes call “the magic box,” according to Thea Feyereisen, Senior Technical Fellow. She was a long-time member of Bateman’s “team of mavericks,” which was known for its drive and innovation. Other Honeywell maverick team members including Ishihara, Steve Johnson and Kevin Conner also played critical roles in the development of ground-prox technology.
“Don was professionally persistent,” Feyereisen said. “If he were still around, I’m sure he’d be proud that we’re adding runway safety features to the EGPWS, but he would also ask, ‘What’s next?’ He was passionate about aviation safety and was always pushing the envelope and looking for continued safety improvements and encouraging practical solutions that could be hosted within EGPWS.”
“Our team included a diverse and clever group of engineers and pilots,” Feyereisen said. “We were known throughout Honeywell as a close-knit team that was extremely curious and passionate about safety and helping pilots. Don instilled that mindset in our group.”
The Roots of a Safety Obsession
Bateman’s safety obsession dates to his childhood in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where he and a friend witnessed the aftermath of a midair collision from their schoolroom window and bicycled over to investigate. The incident left an indelible impression on eight-year-old Don, who would go on to a brilliant engineering career centered on improving flight safety.
Bateman’s enthusiasm for aviation safety – and life in general – was contagious, his daughter Katherine McCaslin fondly remembers. “Above all, he prioritized his mission to make flying safer,” she recalls. “He had stubborn determination and persistence throughout his career, which was part of the reason that he worked so long. Something kept propelling him forward … there was always something more to do.”
Bateman held more than 40 U.S. and 80 foreign patents for aircraft terrain avoidance systems and other innovations. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame 2005 and the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2024. In 2010, he received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, which was presented by President Obama. Honeywell has produced nearly 60,000 EGPWS systems to date.
