At the 2010 Oshkosh EAA Fly-In, one of the more intriguing
announcements involved additional evolutionary changes for the
Cirrus Perspective Flight deck. Obviously taking a hint at the many
upgrades (and the attention they got for them) pioneered by
Avidyne, Cirrus nudged its avionics partners and 'ESP' was
borne...
This 'electronic monitoring and exceedance-correcting
technology' works to assist the pilot in maintaining his or her
aircraft in a safe, flight-stable condition, helping to prevent the
onset of stall/spins, overspeeds, steep spirals or other
loss-of-control conditions, should the pilot become distracted,
disoriented or incapacitated during flight. While a number of other
capabilities were introduced, one particular associated offering
really caught our attention... especially after having to report a
number of tragedies in the last few years where aviators flying
unpressurized in the flight levels succumbed to oxygen starvation
and lost their lives.
They call it "Automatic Descent Mode" and that means is Hypoxia
Protection for GA pilots that has heretofore never been available
before. And its damned impressive. Cirrus' Hypoxia Recognition and
Recovery system is designed to nudge the pilot, electronically, now
and then to make sure that they're alert and capable of exercising
their responsibilities as Pilot-In Command by:
Monitor and detect pilot activity , i.e. evidence of conscious
pilot
Above 15,000’, if no pilot interaction (button press)
within certain time interval, system creates an advisory, followed
by a caution, followed by a warning to solicit a pilot
response
If no response, AP will enter ADM, descend to 14,000 and remain
level for 4 minutes with warning tone throughout
If no response, AP will further descend to 12,500’ and
remain
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