Max-Viz Flies Cessna 421 EVS Demonstrator

August 28, 2002 Portland, OR
Max-Viz, Inc. of Portland, Oregon, announced today that its corporate Cessna 421T aircraft equipped with the company's Enhanced Vision System (EVS) was FAA approved last month for flight demonstrations to potential operators and OEM customers.

"This aircraft provides us with a very useful and flexible tool to demonstrate to potential customers, the many operational and safety benefits of our EVS line of products" says company VP Roger Watson. "It also allows us to independently verify our system's performance in environmental conditions that may pose a specific challenge for an operator or an organization."

The EVS developed by Max-Viz employs uncooled infrared sensors to provide the pilot with images of the real world in darkness or poor visibility. The systems generate video-like images of the area in front of the aircraft in flight and on the ground that can then be displayed on a HUD and/or a video-capable head down cockpit display. The systems allow the pilot to autonomously ensure the safety of takeoff, approach, landing and taxi in poor visibility conditions by improving flight crew Situational Awareness. EVS also offers significant safety enhancement in areas of the world where the ground infrastructure may not be as expected or where the airport is unfamiliar to the pilot.

The superior performance of the uncooled EVS was evidenced during the recent Boeing Technology Demonstrator program. According to Max-Viz, the C421 aircraft will provide a unique opportunity to follow up on the Boeing initiative, allowing the company to explore various sensor locations and display options at reasonable aircraft operating cost. The aircraft was also used recently to explore EVS performance in heavy smoke conditions by flying near the current serious Oregon wildfires. The installation is not intended to represent a production configuration.

"An increasing percentage of aircraft incidents and accidents are associated with operations at night or in poor visibility" says Gregg Fawkes, Max-Viz President. "We're demonstrating technology that is specifically designed to help prevent some of these accidents from happening."

Max-Viz Inc., a Portland, Oregon-based company was founded in early 2001 to design, develop and manufacture enhanced vision systems which improve situational awareness and enhance safety in the air and on the ground by using state-of-the-art real-time uncooled infrared sensor technologies.

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