09.30.06

With the assistance of U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Morgan State University received its first grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to study aircraft safety in 2003. The initial grant helped to form the Chesapeake Information Based Aeronautics Consortium (CIBAC) and was recently extended   to continue research in NASA's new Aviation Safety Program. The extended grant will build upon research currently underway at Morgan State University’s School of Engineering, Bowie State University, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, all members of CIBAC. 

“The NASA Aviation Safety Program is particularly important now,” said Gilbert Haynes, managing director of CIBAC, “because the recent aircraft accident in Kentucky that caused the deaths of 49 of the 50 passengers has caused increased interest in aviation safety.  We work directly with NASA on aviation safety standards.”  

CIBAC has been conducting research in a number of critical areas involving synthetic vision systems, which will improve pilot's electronic visual capabilities in the cockpit and, therefore, will increase aviation safety.  For example, as Mr. Haynes pointed out, "CIBAC is researching ways to synchronize the external environment with the pilot's point of view, which could eventually prevent runway accidents caused by poor visibility.  Moreover, the importance of CIBAC's work is highlighted by statistical information that shows, from 1984 to 1993, 1,468 people lost their lives in 45 fatal aircraft accidents. We need to improve these statistics."

CIBAC’s goal is to assist NASA in its effort to enhance the safety of the entire National Aviation Safety System by a factor of 10 by the year 2022.