C. Donald Bateman
Born Mar 8 1932

Ground Proximity Warning System
Patent Number(s) 3,922,637

Inducted 2005

C. Donald Bateman has saved the lives of countless airplane passengers with his system for warning pilots of impending crashes. Bateman's Ground Proximity Warning System, or GPWS, detects navigational errors leading to accidents. With GPWS, pilots were notified if they were flying too low or descending too rapidly. Accident rates fell sharply after GPWS equipment became mandatory in 1974.

Invention Impact

Tragic airline crashes during the 1960s prompted airline owners to reduce crashes caused when pilots fail to recognize that they are flying too low or approaching a mountain. Bateman responded with a device that automatically warned pilots if their aircraft was approaching the ground or water. The system worked so well that the Federal Aviation Administration began requiring GPWS in aircraft in 1973.

As technology improved, Bateman and his team of developers created a series of advances that made their warning systems more effective and reliable. They added more sophisticated ways of determining the distance from the aircraft to threatening terrain, provided wind shear warnings, integrated other avionics systems, and included computerized colored pictures of topographical data. His innovations to the landing system, specifically the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System, continue to advance safety within the aviation industry.

Inventor Bio

Born in 1932, Saskatchewan, Canada, Bateman studied at the University of Saskatchewan, where he received his degree in electrical engineering. He continues to work on EGPWS at Honeywell.