New Device Increases Safety For General Aviation Pilots

By Janice Wood

Originally posted on avweb.com on May 15, 2024

About 10 years ago, Frank Kunnumpurath was a struggling student pilot, unable to judge the height to flare.

“It took over 95 hours and many hundreds of landings before I could solo,” he remembers.

His struggles led to the development of SkyVoice Alert 500, a takeoff and landing height announcer with gear warning, approved to install in all general aviation aircraft under the FAA’s Non Required Safety Enhancing Equipment (NORSEE) program. “Besides all the other benefits, my product can tremendously help those student pilots struggling with the same challenge I had,” he says. “When they hear 100, their brain can immediately correlate the site picture they see to what 100 feet above ground looks like, and the same is true for 70, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2, and 1.”

Frank started a company, Holy Micro!, to produce the alert device and is now on the air show circuit, exhibiting at the 2024 SUN ’n FUN Aerospace Expo, the Alaska Airmen Association’s Great Alaska Aviation Gathering, and plans to be at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024.

Now a private pilot with his instrument rating and more than 600 hours of flight time, Frank sees the SkyVoice Alert as a digital co-pilot for general aviation pilots, designed to keep pilots safe in that 500 feet of airspace where most aircraft accidents happen.

He points to FAA statistics that show that more accidents occur during takeoff and landing than any other phase of flight.

“Unfortunately, small plane crashes happen too frequently,” he says, noting one reason is that pilots have difficulty determining their accurate height above the ground.

 

“When landing, determining if the plane is 50 feet, 10 feet, or 5 feet above the ground can be challenging, especially under stress,” he says. “Most private pilots do not have enough logged hours to measure this height with their eyes on a visual basis.” After conferring with FAA officials in 2020, Frank says agency officials helped steer his invention in the right direction.

“Through this partnership, the idea of using the power from the aircraft and connecting directly to the audio input emerged,”

The device announces the height above the landing surface through a pilot’s headset, similar to $25,000 radar altimeters used in airliners.

“One of the FAA staff stated, ‘your product is a poor man’s radar altimeter,” notes Frank, who sells the device for $1,450.

Frank recalls that when he wrote the FAA official thanking him for the guidance and approval, he wrote back: “No thanks required Frank — just sell a ton of these. It makes things safer!” Frank adds that the device is easy to install and does not require a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC).

How does it work?

The technology used in the SkyVoice Alert 500 augments human vision and depth perception with the use of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), Frank explains. The remote sensing method uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges or variable distances to the ground or objects, he adds.

“The most dangerous time in flying is the takeoff and landing is the second,” he says. “When climbing over obstacles, such as trees, buildings, power lines, and terrain, knowing the plane height is vital to safely navigating the aircraft. Unlike the altimeter, it announces the true real-time measured height above ground. No math required. The SkyVoice calls out your selected heights from 1 foot to 500 feet on takeoff and from 500 feet to 1 foot on landing. Accurately knowing the height from the ground during both takeoff and landing vastly improves safety.”

It’s also helpful for older airplanes — like most of those in the general aviation fleet — because, as Frank notes, “over time, engines can become tired and operate below optimal performance.” One pilot who recently had the SkyVoice Alert installed in his Piper PA32R-300 says the device is an additional tool in his situational awareness toolbox. “As a captain at a major airline, I’m used to hearing these callouts on short final, so it is a great fit for me in my own plane,” says Jim Judkins. “It gives aural callouts to check gear at 500 feet and altitude callouts below 100 feet — 100, 70, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2, 1 — or whatever you decide works best for you.”

Pilots can also make use of other advanced product functions, such as connecting to GPS for higher altitude callouts, or connecting to the landing gear switch or light to get continuous announcements to put the landing gear down while coming in to land. “There are helpful reminders and warnings on the gear, flaps, speed, and more,” Frank says, encouraging pilots to “stack the odds in your favor.”

“At 500 feet, you have one minute left to touch down. Are you ready for the landing? Is your gear down? Are your flaps, speed, and landing lights correct? This combination of height callouts and extra reminders makes flying far more safe and increases pilot confidence in their flying performance,” he says.

He adds that SkyVoice Alert is not a rate of climb device.

“Rate of climb provides a developing trend over time,” he explains. “This product is real-time data with situational awareness. Data is collected and processed 100 times per second. If you forget something or are distracted on the takeoff roll or landing, SkyVoice is there to assist. There is nothing to remember or to watch or to calculate or to touch or to turn and no database to update. And there are no monthly or annual fees. We have too many of those already in our planes.” 

When pilots get distracted, they can find themselves behind the plane at statistically one of the most critical times of the flight, he says.

“SkyVoice can get you refocused on flying since it has been continuously monitoring the plane’s real-time performance in hard AGL numbers and automatically passing them to you through your headset, over wired connection or Bluetooth,” he says. “This improves safety and reduces risk. The lives you save could be your own and those you love.”

Frank goes on to say that retractable airplanes, like Cardinal RGs, Centurions, and Comanches, are really “endangered species” in general aviation.

 

“When more than 60 pilots land gear up every year, many of those airplanes are lost forever,” he says. “The ‘Check Gear’ warning and reminders from 500 feet can eliminate gear-up landings and over time reduce insurance premiums for all pilots. We should do everything we can to improve safety and reduce cost to keep this hobby affordable and safe for generations to come.”

Frank is not new to inventions and problem-solving. In the 1990s, he revolutionized how doctors manage medical documentation. He was a pioneer in digital medical dictation and online transcription. At the peak of his business in 2005, his business handled documentation for more than 2,500 doctors nationwide. His inventions also extend to his other personal interests, including raising birds. His patented Peck-O-Matic Demand Bird Feeder kit and a live bird shipping box called Feather-Ex approved by the U.S. Post Office are among his other inventions.

Born and raised in Kerala, India, Frank immigrated to the U.S. and studied finance and accounting at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He worked as a CPA and stock option analyst prior to starting his first business, EasyTax, to prepare tax returns online during the early 1990s. He eventually sold that company to H&R Block. Now he’s concentrating on keeping his fellow pilots safe. “Having SkyVoice Alert is like having a co-pilot with a set of bird’s eyes with accurate depth perception at landing,” he says.

He tells the story of a recent flight from Florida to his home base of Syracuse, New York, in a Cardinal RG with the device installed. Along for the ride was his flight instructor, Bob Grandinetti.

Frank recalls Bob said to him, “This thing really works and it helps. You did not scare me during landing like you used to as a student.”

Find out more about SkyVoice Alert 500 at the company’s website, HolyMicro.com.