Disruptive Technology The New Norm?

A new generation of "digital natives" will fill the pilot seats of the future and the technology they embrace is becoming the new norm in the cockpit, according to comments made by industry leaders Friday. The forum on "disruptive technology" at the Flying Aviation Expo in Palm Springs heard from four people who have been at the forefront of some major technological shifts in aviation. Dan Johnson, of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, Tyson Weihs, of ForeFlight, Jerry Gregoire, of Redbird Flight Simulations, and Jim Alpiser, of Garmin, gave varying accounts of how major change can happen, sometimes quickly, often despite strong opposition. "Humans resist change," said Johnson, who was on the ground floor of the creation of the standards that became the Light Sport Aircraft rule.

Gregoire said that disruptive technologies, like his relatively inexpensive flight simulators, often start by performing tasks that are being done by much more costly equipment. The companies that have invested in the expensive technologies naturally fight the often-unexpected competition. Weihs said his company began by seeing the potential of marrying two seemingly unrelated technologies into an inexpensive alternative to paper charts while Alpiser said the milestone GNS 430 was his company's attempt to pack as much technology as possible into a package knowing they were just scratching the surface. As the products established themselves functionally and commercially, the leaders agreed that other opportunities and side benefits appeared that will lead to even greater adoption and disruption. In the case of Redbird, it's fundamentally changing the way people learn to fly, not because of the fidelity of the simulators but because of the way students interact with them. "Nobody likes to be criticized but sometimes it isn't quite as bad when you get it from a machine," he said.