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Recent years have seen a rise in the number of air crashes and on board fatalities. Statistics reveal that human error constitutes upto 56% of these incidents. This can be attributed to the ever growing air traffic and technological advancements in the field of aviation, leading to an increase in the electronic and mechanical controls in the cockpit. Accidents occur when pilots misinterpret gauges, weather conditions, fail to spot mechanical faults or carry out inappropriate actions. Currently, pilots rely on flight manuals (hard copies or an electronic tablet) to respond to an emergency. This is prone to human error or misinterpretation. Also, a considerable amount of time is spent in seeking, reading, interpreting and implementing the corrective action. The proposed augmented head mount virtual assist for the pilot eliminates flight manuals, by virtually guiding the pilot in responding to in-flight necessities.

Aircraft icing has been a focus of the aviation industry for many years. While regulations existed for the certification of aircraft and engine ice protection systems (IPS), no FAA or EASA regulations pertaining to certification of ice detection systems existed for much of this time. Interim policy on ice detection systems has been issued through the form of AC 20-73A as well as FAA Issue Papers and EASA Certification Review Items to deal mainly with Primary Ice Detection Systems. A few years ago, the FAA released an update to 14 CFR 25.1419 through Amendment 25-129 which provided the framework for the usage of ice detection systems on aircraft. As a result of the ATR-72 crash in Roselawn, Indiana due to Supercooled Large Droplets (SLD) along with the Air France Flight 447 accident and numerous engine flame-outs due to ice crystals, both the FAA and EASA have developed new regulations to address these concerns.