Pilots Passed Out Mid-Flight, AI Software Got The Aircraft Back Up Automatically

Dhir Acharya - Feb 26, 2021

Both the pilots came around as their jets were lifting up automatically, just seconds before it would have crashed the ground otherwise.

In separate incidents in 2020, two F-16 fighter jet pilots passed out during their flights over Nevada. If it had not been for the inbuilt software system, their jets would have crashed.

Both the pilots came around as their jets were lifting up automatically, just seconds before it would have crashed the ground otherwise. After that, they were able to regain control of the jets, according to Popular Science.

These pilots underwent G-induced loss of consciousness (G-LOG), which often happens to fighter jet pilots. Most jet pilots have experienced G-LOC and learned to manage safely. GLOC is when the blood wants to rush out of the brain in a certain condition, like when a pilot does a sharp, fats turn. To deal with this, pilots were specific G-suits and learn the straining movement against GLOC, where they use a breathing exercise and muscle to avoid passing out.

Nevertheless, sometimes the methods do not work and pilots end up passing out mid-flight. Luckily, software like Auto GCAS kicks in and it has saved 1- F-16 jets with 11 pilots so far.

Fully known as the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System, Auto GCAS was created by Lockheed Martin. It’s installed in many F-35 and F-16 fighter jets and is meant to save pilots in case of loss of consciousness. The software saved the two pilots in Nevada in 2020, according to the Air Force Safety Center.

Turkish F 16 Compressed — Many F-16 fighter jets are equipped with Auto GCAS

Martin explained that the software system consists of a set of complex autonomous decision-making and collision avoidance algorithms that use “precise navigation, aircraft performance, and on-board digital terrain data to determine if a ground collision is imminent.”

Once the system picks up an imminent collision, it conducts a set movement: roll to level the wings and a +5g pull at the end.

In 2016, the US Air Force declassified a video showing a similar incident where an F-16 pilot. You can easily see when the software kicks in and get the aircraft to fly upwards. Take a look.