Honeywell’s SmartPath precision-landing system recently became the only ground-based augmentation system (GBAS) to receive FAA approval. GBAS monitors GPS signals to detect errors and augment accuracy by transmitting correction messages to aircraft, providing precision-approach guidance to all qualifying runways at an airport. Aircraft must be specially...
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Garmin caused the biggest stir at last month’s NBAA Convention by unveiling the G3000 integrated avionics system, a follow-on to the G1000 cockpit that will change the way pilots fly by introducing touchscreen technology for accessing nearly all the functions normally controlled with myriad buttons and dials. Intended for the upper echelon of the Part 23...
moreHoneywell is about to release two long-awaited avionics software upgrades, the first for Gulfstreams flying with the PlaneView cockpit and the other for Dassault Falcons equipped with the EASy flight deck, both of which are based on the avionics maker’s Primus Epic integrated avionics system.In the large-cabin Gulfstreams, the software enhancement package...
moreOne of the traditional buzz phrases in discussions about improving ATC has been the time-honored “system of systems” that envisions a National Airspace System in which everything meshes together smoothly. It will be some time before the U.S. realizes that vision with NextGen, according to Lockheed Martin’s Tom Dilenno, who spoke at last month’s Air Traffic...
moreThe FAA has commissioned the first implementation of a new generation of precision runway monitor (PRM) equipment at Detroit/Wayne Airport (DTW), to permit simultaneous close parallel approaches to adjacent runways having less than 4,300 feet between their centerlines. At DTW these are Runways 21L and 22R, separated by 3,000 feet, the current lower limit....
moreRockwell Collins has started flight trials of the synthetic-vision portion of the Pro Line Fusion integrated avionics system in a company-owned Challenger 601, adding one of the last–and most highly anticipated–features to the new avionics system.
The milestone follows testing begun earlier this year aboard the Challenger and a Bombardier Global Express...
moreNextant Aerospace announced at the NBAA Convention that it has received STC approval for its Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 flight deck retrofit for Beechjet 400s and Hawker 400XPs. Consisting of two large LCD primary flight displays and one large LCD multifunction display, the cockpit retrofit is priced at $390,000. An additional second MFD can be installed...
moreDassault has selected a cockpit upgrade from Exton, Pa.-based Innovative Solutions & Support that is designed to bring a host of advanced capabilities to Falcon 2000s and 2000EXs originally delivered with Rockwell Collins Pro Line 4 avionics. IS&S announced last month that Dassault is developing an STC for non-EASy-equipped Falcon 2000s that will...
moreFlight Options plans to equip most of its fleet of fractionally owned business jets with Aircell’s high-speed Internet system, a decision that will give the company’s aircraft owners and jet card customers in-flight Wi-Fi access anywhere over the continental U.S. The first installations are due to begin later this year and continue through 2011.Flight...
moreDepartment of Transportation inspector general Calvin Scovel III told a congressional panel yesterday that a plan to jump start NextGen ATC equipage by users would represent “a significant change” in how the FAA manages traffic. According to Scovel, a proposal to give preferential treatment to airspace users who install new avionics systems would be a...
moreYesterday, NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen told members of the House subcommittee on aviation that general aviation “remains steadfast in its support of modernization of the nation’s air traffic control system.” Bolen–who also serves as chairman of the RTCA, an organization that provides consensus-based aviation policy guidance–testified in support of the...
moreThe pilots of the Northwest Airlines Flight 188 that overflew Minneapolis on October 21 told NTSB investigators that a distraction in the cockpit of their Airbus A320 led to the incident, not a “heated discussion,” as reported by the Safety Board last Thursday. Both pilots, whom the NTSB interviewed for five hours combined, said they did not fall asleep,...
moreSatcom Direct (Booth No. 3208) announced a new product and upgrades of existing ones at the NBAA show on Monday. The company’s SD Flight Tracker is a Web-based service designed to deliver precise aircraft global positioning via Inmarsat, Iridium, VHF and broadband networks. It also provides real-time satellite system status and expands the capabilities of...
moreUniversal Avionics (Booth No. 4254) unveiled the UL-800/801 communications management system, developed to be compatible with Future Air Navigation System (FANS) and VHF datalink (VDL) Mode 2 capabilities for digital communications between pilots and ATC. Designed to be compliant with FANS 1/A standards, the Universal communications management unit will...
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