Primus Epic updates due for release soon

By: Stephen Pope

June 1, 2009
Avionics

Honeywell is closing in on certification for a host of long-awaited avionics upgrades intended to expand the capabilities of many Gulfstream and Dassault business jets.
The Phoenix avionics manufacturer reported last month it is wrapping up simulator and flight testing that will add functionality for future air navigation system (Fans1/A); wide-area augmentation system localizer performance with vertical guidance (Waas LPV); and required navigation performance special aircraft and aircrew authorization required (RNP Saaar) operations in PlaneView-equipped Gulfstreams. Honeywell also said it has delivered “load software” for these capabilities to Dassault, along with the promised synthetic-vision upgrade for EASy-equipped Falcons announced last fall.

Fans1/A, used on oceanic flight routes, enables text-based datalink communications between pilots and controllers. Waas LPV is a GPS instrument approach type that provides ILS-like landing minimums (as low as 200-foot decision height) without the need to erect costly ground stations. There are now more than 1,300 Waas LPV approaches in the U.S., versus fewer than 1,000 ILS approaches. RNP SAAAR is a special type of procedure that allows suitably equipped aircraft flown by appropriately trained crews to fly extremely precise (0.1-nm lateral accuracy) tracks, including curved approach courses. The FAA permits Honeywell to assist aircraft operators seeking RNP SAAAR approval through the company’s recently launched Go Direct Services.

Honeywell expects to receive the technical standard order for the enhanced functionality in the Gulfstream G350, G450, G500 and G550 next month. Additional functionality coming to the Gulfstream cockpits through the software updates includes electronic airport maps and synthetic-vision system enhancements, including range rings.

Honeywell also plans to release its Version 6.1 FMS software for the GIV/IV-SP and GV, an upgrade that will enable Fans1/A, RNP and Waas LPV operations. As part of that upgrade, operators can opt to remove their CRT cockpit screens and replace them with DU-885 LCD flat-panel displays for support of XM graphical weather and electronic navigational charts.

The EASy Phase II cockpit for Dassault is scheduled to be certified late this year in the Falcon 900, 2000 and 7X, with the Fans1/A capability to follow early next year. The update will bring the same synthetic-vision capabilities to the cockpits of Falcons that Gulfstream PlaneView operators have had for the past year.

Synthetic vision creates and presents on the primary flight displays a virtual, 3-D view of the world, including hills, mountains, runways and bodies of water.
Honeywell was the first avionics maker to gain certification for the product–called synthetic vision-primary flight display–in a production Part 25 business jet.    

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