Honeywell has spent years mining data from millions of flight operations and refining the software algorithms to avoid false alerts.

Once the technology is certified, airlines will be able to install it with an upload to their existing avionics boxes on the flight deck. The Honeywell 757 test airplane is 42 years old with displays much more limited than those on more recent jets.

“This is not the most fancy, sophisticated pilot user experience. This is the basics,” said Feyereisen. “This is a third pair of eyes on the flight deck that says, ‘Hey, there’s traffic down the runway.’ “

“Our goal here is to really get deep market penetration for retrofit” to existing airliners, she said. “We think that all air transport should be equipped with something like this.”

Feyereisen said the retrofit option is designed to be very affordable, requiring nothing more than swapping out an electronics box in the aircraft.

“No holes to drill or antennas to install,” she said.

Too many close calls in the U.S.

In February last year, the pilot of a FedEx 767 cargo plane coming in to land through dense fog in Austin had to gun his engines and pull up steeply when at the last moment he saw a Southwest Airlines 737 beginning its takeoff roll on the same runway.

The FedEx jet with three crew aboard swooped over the top of the Southwest airliner, which had just risen off the ground carrying 128 passengers and crew.

According to a National Transportation Safety Board release issued last week, the two jets came within 150 to 170 feet of a catastrophic collision.

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