In the future, airline pilots may have an extra set of eyes -- an infrared camera mounted on the nose of the plane -- to help guide them to a safe landing in weather that's so fuzzy gray they would otherwise be forced to divert to a different airport.

Weather problems cause more than 40 percent of all flight delays in the U.S., according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. A recent study commissioned by the FAA estimated the cost of airline delays and cancellations at $6.7 billion a year.

Technologies that are part of the FAA's long-range program to modernize the air traffic control system will help get airline passengers to their destinations on time more often in foggy, snowy and rainy conditions, saving countless wasted hours and millions of gallons of jet fuel each year, experts said.

Last week without leaving the newsroom, your Getting Around reporter experienced one of these developing systems on a virtual flight -- via a video of a plane landing in dense fog in Santa Barbara, Calif.

The new avionics software, produced by Honeywell, combines on a single cockpit screen the enhanced vision of real-time infrared camera images with an artificial but 100 percent accurate schematic of runways and surrounding terrain generated from Global Positioning System data, according to Honeywell and Kollsman Inc., which manufactures the camera technology.

The infrared image shows pilots the view of the runway ahead that they might not be able to see because of low visibility. The synthetic-vision component provides the pilot with awareness of nearby obstacles ranging from air-traffic control towers to mountains that might not be clearly visible in bad weather.

"You can now see the runway upon approach regardless of the visibility conditions, like it's a clear sunny day," said Larisa Parks, Honeywell vice president of crew interface products.

By using the infrared camera image to see runway approach lights in poor weather, pilots would be permitted to reduce the landing minimum from an altitude of 200 feet visibility of the runway environment down to 100 feet, Parks said.

"At that point, you have to make your decision, 'Can I see the runway sufficiently with my own eyes to land, or do I have to go around and attempt another landing or divert to another airport?' " said Ronald Weight, Honeywell's chief pilot of corporate aviation.

During a visit to Tribune Tower, Weight narrated the video of a business jet flying the landing approach in heavy fog near the airport in Santa Barbara. Overlaid with the real-time camera feed was a full-color synthetic vision image depicting the Santa Ynez Mountains in the background, a useful tool to help the pilot safely clear the peaks in the event of an aborted landing and the need to climb out.

The Honeywell software contains a data picture of every runway in the world and 90,000 natural and man-made obstacles, according to the company.

On the video, the plane is engulfed in murky skies 700 feet above the ground and no runway is visible, even with the infrared capability. But the computer builds a picture of the runway in the distance and draws a box around it. A flight path marker displays the route to the apron of the runway.

The plane continues to descend to just above 200 feet and suddenly the runway approach lights show up on the cockpit screen.

"Now I have the runway environment through my infrared video," Weight said. "I have what I need at this point to continue down to 100 feet above the runway. We still don't have the runway in sight through the windshield."

A few more seconds pass.

"You see more lights starting to come into view. There's the end of the runway. I can finally see it," he said.

Indeed, the runway lights are glowing. There is the runway center line and other markings. The altimeter reads 130 feet above the ground. The plane continues to descend, almost touching down on the runway before the pilot spools up the engines and takes off to conduct another test.

The enhanced vision and synthetic vision systems have been certified for use by the FAA. Honeywell and Kollsman will soon seek certification of the combined technologies, officials said.

It's estimated to cost $500,000 per plane to install the system, according to Elbit Systems of America, the parent company of Kollsman.

No airline is yet using the enhanced vision system, relying instead on what pilots can or can't see through the windshield to determine whether a landing can safely and legally be accomplished.

FAA officials declined to comment on the combined enhanced vision and synthetic vision technology, because no such system has been submitted for certification.

An FAA official did say that these types of systems are still in the research and development phase, noting that many of these technologies are developed initially to provide situational awareness and safety benefits for pilots, and may eventually provide other benefits when they are in operation.

Contact Getting Around at [email protected] or c/o the Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611; on Twitter @jhilkevitch; and on Facebook, facebook.com/jhilkevitch. Read recent columns at chicagotribune.com/gettingaround.

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