Abstract: The present invention relates to an avoidance system and method for directing an aircraft away from an exclusion zone. The exclusion zone may be any three dimensional space for example about a building or city. The avoidance system uses a constant signal from a ground based transmitter and an aircraft's receiver which receives and processes the signal and activates the avoidance system by engaging the flight director system or autopilot to steer away from the exclusion zone.

Abstract: A voice activated control system responsive to spoken voice commands is integrated with an advanced central display/control unit having dedicated and reconfigurable push buttons to control individual vehicle accessories in a complementary fashion as well as in standalone modes. The two controllers share additional input and output resources including reconfigurable steering wheel switches and a heads-up display showing the current configuration of the steering wheel switches. Thus, a driver can control a plurality of adjustable parameters of a plurality of vehicle accessories with a convenient and easy to use interface which makes efficient use of hardware and reduces costs.