CommercialSafety: Dysfunctional Doors The biggest piece of avionics-related equipment to be installed recently in transport-category aircraft isn't on the instrument panel in front of the pilots. It's behind them: the hardened, electrically locked cockpit doors…
ATM ModernizationFeedback New Perspective of Lead-Free I read with interest the September Editor's Note on lead-free avionics (page 6) and the Safety column in the same issue (page 55) on tin whiskers. In the…
Business & GAIntegrated Avionics: Plug & Play The cursor control devices, pull-down menus and point-and-click controls in today's bizjet cockpits remind us of PCs. Under the hood, in a corporate-owned airplane's processing cabinets, the similarities persist, with integrated architectures…
ATM ModernizationNew Products TopDeck Expands Thales Avionics is positioning its TopDeck integrated avionics suite for the helicopter market. Built around an advanced glass cockpit, the latest TopDeck package meets all civil and military helicopter requirements…
ATM ModernizationScan New Take on TV The in-flight entertainment (IFE) manufacturer, Flight Display Systems (FDS), has set out to bring airborne television to the business aviation masses, including to aircraft that lack the large…
ATM ModernizationPeople New Officers BAE Systems has named Aaron Penkacik as the chief technical officer (CTO) for its Information & Electronics Systems Integration sector. Penkacik remains the CTO of the Information and Electronic Warfare…
Business & GAPerspectives: President’s Spectrum Policy Initiative On June 5, 2003, President Bush issued a memorandum for the heads of executive departments and agencies, establishing the Spectrum Policy Initiative. The initiative created the Spectrum Task Force, an interagency body…
Business & GAThe Race To Allow Airborne Cell Phone Use What do many airline passengers want in a connectivity service? They want to be able to use their notebook computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs) to send and access e-mail and navigate…
Business & GAUAVs Entering the NAS In retrospect, the agreement reached in 1944, called the Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation, turns out to have been remarkable for its prescience. Among many parts of the Convention still relevant today…
CommercialProduct Focus: USAF’s Commercial Satcom Most people probably don't know that the U.S. Air Force is a big consumer of commercial satellite communications products and services. Aircraft program offices already have ordered satcom equipment -- for 411…