A wearable, tactile tech designed to feed pilots information similar to how our smartphones alert us to a text message could save lives, according to its Australian developers.
The University of Canberra and Adelaide-based software company elmTEK will share in $14 million from the Australian Defence Force's Capability and Technology Demonstrator Program to design new multi-sensory displays to be deployed on-board Australian Army helicopters. 
Former aircraft mishap investigator, now lead researcher Dr Braden McGrath said a pilot maintaining a controlled flight works in the same way as a person maintaining balance while standing upright.
"If you think about, right now you're sitting there and if you close your eyes, you don't fall out of your chair. Your inner ear and your skin-muscle-joint system and all of your body senses tell you which way is up and which way is down," he said.
"When you go flying however, you don't. Because of the g-forces and the motion of the aircraft, your inner ear and skin-muscle-joint system, don't work very well, so pilots get disoriented."
Spatial disorientation and loss of situation awareness accounted for 80 per cent of US helicopter crashes in Iraq and Afghanistan, Dr McGrath said.
Based on technology developed for the US Navy, the tactile cueing system can provide pilots with a gentle touch or a "punch in the ribs", depending on whether they're drifting off course or a missile is heading their way.
"If we were having a personal conversation and I tapped you on the shoulder, your reflex is to turn and look," Dr McGrath said.
"Imagine you had [the equivalent of] 20 smartphones on your body. You're piloting a helicopter coming into land and you're in a brownout.
"You start to drift sideways but you don't feel it because of everything else going on. You could roll over when you try to land or in this scenario as you're hovering, you get a tap on the torso in the direction of the drift of the aircraft."
The tactile cueing system has applications on the ground too.
"Ultimately this is an example of assistive technologies. At the end of the day this is all about helping pilots to fly a helicopter but the exact same technology could help an elderly person not to fall over," Dr McGrath said.
Dr McGrath and his team will demonstrate the technology to the Australian Army in 12 months. It could be operational within the fleet in as soon as 18 months.