C. Donald Bateman

Charles Donald Bateman (8 March 1932 - 21 May 2023(2023-05-21) (aged 91)), often known as Don Bateman, was a Canadian electrical engineer and the inventor of the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS), a device that is responsible for a marked decline in controlled flight into terrain accidents, such as the Mount Erebus Disaster with Air New Zealand Flight 901.

He earned his degree in electrical and electronics engineering at the University of Saskatchewan in 1956 before beginning a career at Sundstrand Corporation (later Honeywell).

[8] A series of aircraft crashes as a result of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) led Bateman to take the initiative in creating a solution to these accidents.

CFIT is defined as "where a pilot has the aircraft under control but unknowingly flies into terrain" This type of accident typically takes place during poor visibility.

It had two problems:[10] Bateman continued to head the development of the GPWS, developing it into the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning Systems (EGPWS), a version that features digital terrain mapping techniques paired with three-dimensional GPS information, providing for “look-ahead” capability as well as advanced aural and visual warnings.

The primary GPWS patent, Aircraft landing approach ground proximity warning system US 3922637  dates to 1976, with Sundstrand Data.

Abstract: “In order to provide for the additional effectiveness of a ground proximity warning system during a landing approach, the waypoint signal of an Area Navigation System is used in combination with an altitude above-ground-signal to compute a minimum terrain altitude for each point along the aircraft's approach to the runway.