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Federal aviation experts are meeting with aerospace industry officials in Virginia Thursday to discuss what promises to be the next big advance in airline safety and on-time performance.

The gathering at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Langley research center will showcase "enhanced vision systems," enabling pilots to manually complete landings in low-visibility conditions that aren't allowed under today's rules. Featuring infrared cameras able to peer through fog or rain, the aim is to avoid canceling or diverting flights due to poor visibility at scheduled destinations. The cameras are likely to be combined in the future with other sensors and computer-generated runway images.

Within a few years, according to cockpit-equipment makers, business jets and airliners outfitted with cutting-edge hardware will be able to do things aviators have only dreamed about: eventually touch down at virtually any airport without pilots first having to see the physical runway. Currently, only the most advanced jets using the latest automated landing systems come close to that goal. Such arrivals typically occur at major hubs with extensive ground-based landing aids.

But Federal Aviation Administration rules that are expected to become final in coming months will help the majority of flights—those with pilots manually flying the end of the approach—successfully get into the average socked-in airport. Cockpit crews will be allowed to continue low-visibility approaches all the way to the tarmac at fields that lack the sophisticated navigation aids—even when the actual runway remains obscured to the naked eye.

"The marketplace is waiting," according to Kent Statler, chief operating officer of Rockwell Collins Inc.'s commercial-products division, one of the companies that has bet heavily on the technology. Relatively quickly, he predicts, it "will be widely adopted, if not standard, in the commercial transport world."

Rival Honeywell International Corp. is pursuing other strategies to enhance pilot vision.

Properly equipped planes eventually also will be permitted to take off and taxi when visibility is as low as 300 feet, versus current requirements of generally 1,000 feet.

"It absolutely can be a game changer," said Joshua Kendrick, managing director of technical flight issues for FedEx Corp., because the technology can shake up "all the rules and assumptions [flying] was based on" for decades.

Equipment costs that can be $200,000 or more per plane are serious impediments. In addition, a spate of regulatory, technical and training challenges still have to be met before the FAA will authorize the most dramatic changes. Yet as the technology gains momentum, it seems to be eliminating traditional distinctions between visual flight rules and new regulations relying on high-resolution, infrared-enhanced views of runways and their surroundings.

"What's really needed is a 100% solution" that works down to the ground in any weather, according to Stedman Stevens, executive director of closely held Jetcraft Avionics, which is developing its own suite of sensors with a partner. Mr. Stevens declined to provide details. He and others estimate increased efficiency and reliability could save airlines billions of dollars.

Proponents sometimes say the trend harks back to an adage favored by pilot Charles Lindbergh: "Aviation will never amount to much until we learn to free ourselves from the mists."

Beyond symbolism, the technology portends major economic benefits. Commercial and corporate aircraft will enjoy reliable, all-weather access to airports around the world, regardless of ground aids. General Dynamics Corp.'s Gulfstream Aerospace unit already installs enhanced vision systems and heads-up displays on its top-of-the line jet models.

"No business jet operator wants to reach the destination but not be able to land," according to Raanan Horowitz, president and chief executive of Elbit Systems of America LLC, which also provides infrared technology for jetliners.

In the U.S., airlines will be able to routinely take off without worrying about visibility at the destination; reduce operating costs by carrying less fuel that is now usually mandated to cope with possible diversions en route; and safely continue to serve scores of midsize and smaller airports in practically any weather. Regardless of visibility, separate onboard systems warn pilots about dangerous winds.

Supporters anticipate the biggest gains will be increased capacity and enhanced safety, because pilots would see significantly more detail about runway layout, terrain or other potential obstacles. The FAA has said it is committed to expanding uses of the technology.

After nearly a decade of study, Nick Sabatini, a former FAA safety chief, sees the technology as essential for planned air-traffic control modernization. Unless capacity can be increased regardless of actual weather and lighting conditions, he said, many of the advantages of satellite-based navigation won't come to pass. With the technology gaining momentum, European regulators and the aviation arm of the United Nations also are moving to encourage enhanced vision systems.

Many low-visibility operating principles have been tested using NASA flight simulators. Two dozen commercial pilots who volunteered to participate in an agency-industry study managed to use enhanced vision displays to make some 247 landings in high-fidelity simulators without a hitch.

FedEx already is realizing the advantages at its Memphis hub. The company has invested tens of millions of dollars to equip its fleet and at this point, is the only U.S. carrier to get the green light from the FAA to have pilots proceed as low as 100 feet on instrument approaches, before pulling up if they don't catch a glimpse of the runway. Ultimately, melding infrared technology with radar or other sensors is designed to plug that gap.

Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 14, 2015 19:35 ET (23:35 GMT)

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