Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others died when their highly experienced helicopter pilot became disoriented after he lost sight of the terrain below. The pilot, Ara Zobayan, was flying under visual flight rules (VFR) in conditions that required instrument flight rules (IFR) due to low visibility and a low cloud ceiling. He climbed into the clouds, became disoriented and lost his sense of direction. The helicopter descended rapidly and crashed into a hillside. The NTSB concluded that the pilot's decision to continue flight under VFR conditions into the clouds was a major contributing factor. Even though Ara Zobayan had over 8,000 flight hours, spatial disorientation caused him to crash.

This tragedy could have been prevented. My product, 'Virtual Terrain,' allows a pilot to see the terrain below and the horizon directly in front using new mixed reality (MR) glasses. When flying in IFR conditions a pilot can wear these glasses and see the terrain projected in the window of the cockpit in 3D! So if Mr. Zobayan had put these on he would have seen that the horizon line was not horizontal and that the helicopter was accelerating towards the hills below.

There will be two versions of the Virtual Terrain glasses. The first would simply project the artificial horizon instrument and vertical speed indicator on the lens so the pilot can easily see those vital pieces of information while flying in IFR conditions. This could be done with augmented reality (AR) glasses like the XREAL Air 2 (xreal.com). The second version would be more advanced and would project a 3D virtual terrain into the cockpit windshield using MR glasses like Snap Chat's Spectacles (spectacles.com). This would allow the pilot to have VFR visuals in IFR conditions. These glasses would not replace IFR gauges but would supplement them to help prevent disorientation.

All the technology exists to make this happen very quickly. The Virtual Terrain glasses can be developed now and be on the market within a year. With the help of Create The Future Design Contest, pilots around the world can fly safely and with more confidence in IFR conditions!