NASA - which always has a cool setup at Oshkosh, space suits and all - quietly conducted research last month under the radar of the world's biggest airshow. In the basement of EAA's Air Academy Lodge, a team of NASA staffers had pilots fly an X-Plane sim to test a cellphone app designed to avoid controlled flight into terrain. (See a video of it here.) Whether or not you think we need more apps in the cockpit, you've got to admit this sounds interesting. And NASA's work in CFIT prevention up to this point is a good example of how a lot of behind-the-scenes data crunching and engineering we never see end up as everyday tools we take for granted.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/air-shows-events/can-a-cfit-app-help-pilots-stay-alive