New Brand at FAA

Beginning with the March/April 2010 issue, FAA Aviation News is changing its name to FAA Safety Briefing to more accurately reflect the magazine's safety mission. The FAA Safety Briefing will provide pilots, aviation maintenance technicians, and others across the general aviation community with valuable safety information. FAA Safety Briefing is available on the FAA Web site at http://www.faa.gov/news/safety_briefing. Check out the new March/April 2010 issue, which features the FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) and its role promoting safer skies through outreach, training, and education.

Garmin Unveils New Chopper Products

Garmin has revealed the G500H, an all-glass avionics system designed specifically for the VFR Part 27 helicopter market. The G500H is a derivative of the G600 and G500 for the fixed-wing market, yet the G500H has been optimized for rotorcraft and offers features like helicopter synthetic vision technology (HSVT(TM)), helicopter-specific databases with over 7,000 heliports and nearly 30,000 additional low-altitude obstacles, XM WX Satellite Weather with NEXRAD, and the ability to display video from a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera or other video sources.

ATM in India

Raytheon has been awarded a contract by the Airports Authority of India to automate air traffic control services at the Chennai International. Raytheon will install AutoTrac III, its next-generation air traffic management system, to help reduce delays in aircraft arrival and departure. The new system will also have real-time meteorological information to assist air traffic controllers in adjusting to changing weather conditions. In addition to Chennai International, Raytheon is upgrading air traffic management systems at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International in Mumbai and at Indira Gandhi International in New Delhi. AutoTrac III features a new generation of flight and surveillance data processing systems to ensure air traffic safety. The system's modern, open architecture design and high performance is fully adaptable and scaleable to fit any air traffic management environment from simple tower automation to a fully integrated multi-center system.

Full Ice Protection System

AgustaWestland says a Full Ice Protection System (FIPS) for the AW139 medium twin helicopter has achieved EASA Certification. This allows the AW139 to fly into known icing conditions with unprecedented all weather capabilities no other helicopters in its category can claim. FIPS Certification, achieved following an intense series of trials performed in North America, aims at completing the process that makes the multi-role AW139 suitable to operate in the most diverse and harsh environment conditions. With the EASA certification received, approvals in accordance with FAA as well as TCAA (Canada) requirements are expected to be obtained soon, as the entire FIPS test campaign has been conducted since the beginning under the supervision and with the constant involvement of EASA, FAA and TCAA. The FIPS system is available as an option, and includes ice detectors, Automatic activation system with manual back up, electrical power generators, engine intakes protection grids, heated windshield and blades (main and tail rotor).

ARINC in Colombia

ARINC has won a $14 million contract to provide advanced passenger technology for six airports in Colombia, South America. The locations include the country's second largest airport, Jose Maria Cordoba International Airport, in Rionegro, Antioquia. ARINC's customer is Airplan, S.A., operator of the six airports in north-central Colombia. ARINC will install a range of technologies appropriate to the needs of each airport, which may include vMUSE common-use check-in and departure systems, AirVUE flight information display systems, SelfServ common-use kiosks, and the AirDB airport operational database system. Explosives detection equipment will also be installed on the baggage handling systems of one or more airports. "ARINC complied well with all the requirements of our RFP, and they did a good job of explaining the quality and reliability of their system to us," stated Sara Ramirez Restrepo, manager of Airplan. "We look forward to a long and beneficial relationship that will enhance the travel experience of millions of air passengers in Colombia." ARINC will begin the airport installations later this year and continue working into 2011. Under the contract, ARINC and its partners will also provide IT maintenance support for the new airport systems until 2017. Airports in Colombia that will receive the new ARINC technology are: Jose Maria Cordoba International Airport in Rionegro, and Olaya Herrera in Medellin, plus Los Garzones Airport in Monteria, Las Brujas Airport in Corozal, Antonio Roldan Betancur Airport in Carepa, and El Carano Airport in Quibdo.

FMS Enhances ATM Capabilities

Honeywell says its Next Generation Flight Management System (NGFMS) is currently undergoing test flights on the Gulfstream G650 and was part of the first flight on the Boeing 747-8. "The future of navigation and air traffic management is flying today," said Carl Esposito, vice president, marketing & product management, Honeywell Aerospace. "The NGFMS provides all of the capability to meet requirements for improving air traffic management through decreased separation and more direct routing." The NGFMS, which will certify later this year on the Boeing 747-8, enables Required Navigation Performance (RNP) 0.1, and allows operators to comply with the U.S. initiative NextGen Air Traffic Management (ATM) and the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) program. It also supports Wide Area Augmentation System - Localizer Performance with Vertical guidance (WAAS-LPV), Future Air Navigation System 1 (FANS-1) and FANS-2 requirements. "The NGFMS is being designed to meet increasing requirements for integrity and availability required by NextGen and SESAR," said Chad Cundiff, vice president, crew interface Ppoducts, Honeywell Aerospace. " The NGFMS provides enhanced flight planning, navigation and guidance, and aircraft performance capabilities to the aircraft as well as a large navigational database that meets future growth requirements. Honeywell's NGFMS will be offered for retrofit on Boeing 747-400 aircraft.

NC-bound Airliner Hits Bird 

A US Airways jetliner suffered a bird strike and a resulting engine problem shortly after takeoff from Rochester NY's airport on March 11, forcing the aircraft to turn back and make an emergency landing. Flight 1101 declared an emergency two minutes after departing for Charlotte, NC. The Airbus A319 carrying 124 passengers and a crew of five hit several birds at about 2,000 feet and had a problem with one of its two engines. The flight was canceled and the passengers were shifted to other flights.