Universal Avionics is anticipating certification for its EFI-890H Advanced Flight Displays on the Airbus Helicopters Super Puma AS332L1 by the middle of the year, with installations on customer aircraft already underway. “The first helicopter is a transport configuration and the second helicopter with SAR [search and rescue] functionality is well into the modification process,” noted Grady Dees, Universal’s director of technical sales. “The EFI-890H installation provides a cost effective technology insertion for the Super Puma.
According to the Arizona-based company (Booth T063), the package will include dual EFI-890H primary flight displays (PFD) for the pilot and copilot, dual UNS-1Fw Multi-Missions Management System (MMMS) with 5-inch flat panel control display units, and a single radio control unit, which works with the MMMS system and replaces federated control heads for existing radios. Optional night vision goggle-compatible versions of the above units are also available.
This latest version of the proven flight display package is customized for the Super Puma, and provides steering cues for both 3-axis and 4-axis operations including roll, pitch and collective. The new PFD system replaces a suite of existing electromechanical altimeters, airspeed indicators, vertical speed indicators, ADI/FD indicators, radio altitude indicators and HSI indicators, allowing for significantly easier display and switching of navigation data. In SAR variants, automatic transition to hover will be supported by an upcoming software release to the MMMS.
