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Innovative developments in business aviation in terms of enhanced and synthetic vision and also a variety of display options are enabling smaller aircraft and bizjets to be equipped with synthetic vision systems that provide forward-looking infrared (Flir) images of runways and terrain in head-up displays and also computer-generated 3D views of runways and terrain from a database. A cost-effective infrared imaging camera (IRIS) and sensors also add to the products developed for corporate aircraft flight decks.

Business aircraft designers are revolutionizing civil avionics if the products displayed at the 1995 National Business Aircraft Assn (NBAA) convention are any indication. Developments in liquid-crystal displays may prove to be more dramatic than those of cathode-ray tube research in the early eighties. Large, active-matrix, color LCDs and powerful computer chips allow users to integrate multiple functions on a single screen. A sample of products exhibited at NBAA is provided.

New avionics technology will enable corporate aircraft to navigate and land anywhere in the world. While many firms are not retrofitting fleets, most new planes are equipped with some level of Global Positioning Systems. Head-up display technology is also gaining interest.