Writer

Amy Wilder

When smoke enters the cockpit, pilots’ ability to see critical instruments and the outside environment can quickly vanish. Klatt Works created its Smoke Assured Vision Enhanced Display <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2023-11-20/stcs-underway-klatt-works-ar-oxygen-mask">(SAVED) oxygen mask</a> for these scenarios, and the company is spotlighting its progress this week at NBAA-BACE 2025.
The idea for SAVED traces back to the aftermath of UPS Flight 6 in 2010, when a Boeing 747 cargo fire filled the cockpit with dense smoke, overwhelming the crew and leading to a fatal crash near Dubai. This wasn’t an isolated event, but it was a highly visible one. Past accidents also highlighted a need for change, such as the 1987 crash of a South African Airways B747-244B in the Indian Ocean after thick smoke filled the cockpit, resulting in 159 fatalities, and the 1998 crash of a Swissair MD-11 in Nova Scotia, Canada, when a wiring short ignited and caused the cockpit to fill with smoke, causing 229 fatalities.
FedEx sought solutions, and the concept of embedding augmented reality into oxygen masks emerged from that effort. Founder and CEO Nate Klatt and his team carried the technology forward, and with FedEx as the cornerstone partner/customer Klatt Works was born.
“NBAA is our biggest show,” Ron Gofron, director of sales and marketing for Klatt Works, told AIN. “We bring eight people with us, and we have our full podium with demo masks displaying the EVS and HUD information, just as pilots would see in the aircraft.” The demonstration will use actual flight-test video captured during FAA certification, when pilots were required to land aircraft 10 times in fully obscured cockpits. According to Gofron, they “nailed 10 out of 10 landings.”
The SAVED system combines a high-resolution, low-latency display with a feed from the aircraft’s external camera (EVS or EFVS system) and HUD symbology generator. The concentrator unit overlays camera imagery with flight data and projects it onto miniature displays embedded in the oxygen mask. For the pilot, the result is a full view of attitude, altitude, airspeed, and outside terrain, even if smoke obscures the windscreen and instrument panel.
Achieving FAA certification proved to be a long road. “It took us almost six years to get the first STC on the Boeing 777,” Gofron recalled. “Now that we’ve gotten past the ‘new’ and ‘novel,’ the rest should be fairly straightforward.” The company recently completed FAA flight tests for the 767 and expects approval by year-end, with the 757 following.
Progress is accelerating in the business aviation sector, with several business jet STCs nearing completion, according to Gofron, who noted that cargo aircraft remain a major focus for the technology. “We have engaged heavily with a couple of business jet manufacturers this year,” Gofron said. He indicated that Klatt Works is working with a major passenger-to-freighter conversion company and has meetings scheduled with a few others at the upcoming Cargo Facts Symposium.&nbsp;
The need for solutions is underscored by the continuing frequency of cockpit smoke events. Klatt Works tracks incidents worldwide using media reports. “We’ve had more than 170 smoke events already this year, and that’s only what I can track,” Gofron told AIN. He added that many regions, particularly in Asia, rarely report such events, so the true number is higher. Analysis shows that 37% of cases stem from electrical failures, followed by engine oil and hydraulic leaks, and lithium-ion batteries third but rapidly rising.
At the company’s NBAA-BACE booth, visitors can put on the mask, experience its quick-donning inflatable straps, and see live displays of HUD and EVS symbology. Klatt Works will also host FedEx’s Joel Murdock, whose early advocacy helped launch the project.&nbsp;

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