Honeywell is testing SURF-A, a cockpit alerting system that warns pilots when another aircraft is on or entering their runway. The work runs through Honeywell’s Olathe, Kansas team and recently included a demo flight between Kansas City and Topeka.
Today, many surface-safety tools sit in the tower. That can delay a warning when seconds matter. SURF-A flips the model by alerting pilots directly with clear visuals and an aural callout. The goal is faster reactions and fewer runway incursions. Honeywell is aiming for FAA certification in 2026.
Under the hood, SURF-A fuses GPS data with ADS-B position signals and onboard analytics. It looks ahead for conflicts and triggers if it sees traffic on the runway, approaching from behind, or crossing at an intersection. It slots into existing avionics as a software update to the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) or related traffic computers. That keeps hardware changes low and speeds adoption.
The push comes as regulators expand their own surface-safety toolkit. The FAA is rolling out new Runway Incursion Devices, plus Surface Awareness and Approach Runway Verification systems, to improve tower situational awareness nationwide. SURF-A complements those efforts by putting a final layer in the cockpit.
Airlines are already moving on “ready-now” layers. SmartRunway and SmartLanding—also from Honeywell—are in service and add alerts for wrong-surface lineups, unstable approaches, and speed exceedances. SURF-A is the next step because it spots traffic conflicts on the runway itself and speaks straight to the crew.
If certification stays on track, expect early retrofits on Boeing and Airbus fleets that already carry EGPWS. Training will focus on brief callouts, clear procedures, and rejecting takeoff or braking decisively when SURF-A fires. The aim is simple: remove ambiguity in the tens of seconds when a close call can become a collision.
