Final Contract By Year End; Rockwell Collins Also Announces
System Upgrade
At the NBAA convention in Orlando, Florida, NetJets has signed a
letter of intent to award Rockwell Collins a 10-year contract for
implementing a fleet-wide eFlight information management solution.
The final agreement is expected to be completed by year-end.
"The eFlight solution selected by NetJets will connect the
aircraft and the ground in an efficient way, replacing hundreds of
pounds of paper with simplified, electronic formats." said Mark
Harris, vice president, eFlight for Rockwell Collins. "The end
result for NetJets will be greater operational efficiency, accurate
and up to date information and reduced costs."
Rockwell Collins will
supply dual Class 2 Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) functionality for
multiple aircraft in the NetJets fleet. The EFB will be integrated
with the Rockwell Collins eFlight ground and onboard software to
provide seamless database distribution and loading, and document
management.
The eFlight solution will provide electronic database
distribution and loading for the aircraft's Flight Management
System (FMS) and Integrated Flight Information System (IFIS);
electronic document distribution and viewing of manuals and charts
integrated with the EFB. In addition, the eFlight solution will
provide a comprehensive reporting feature that indicates the status
of all electronic documents and databases sent to the aircraft.
Rockwell Collins Announces IFIS
Enhancements
Meanwhile, Rockwell Collins announced several upgrades to its
Integrated Flight Information System (IFIS), part of the suite
promised to NetJets. The enhancements will improve situational
awareness and reduce pilot workload. The new offerings include
graphical weather animation, a more user-friendly data entry
process, and Art 11 aART 11-referenced charts beyond the U.S.
"These enhancements demonstrate Rockwell Collins' commitment to
delivering situational awareness enhancements and more efficient
flight operations by providing pilots with easier access to
critical information," said Denny Helgeson, vice president and
general manager of Business and Regional Systems for Rockwell
Collins.
The new features provide pilots with access to graphical weather
animation through XM WX Satellite Weather. The animation is created
by multiple weather images which are captured and then sequenced to
display weather movement patterns. In addition, the aircraft
position and flight information are displayed on the XM weather
format providing greater situational awareness.
A new Smart Entry
capability allows pilots to enter and access data faster and more
easily. Smart Entry automatically detects queries in the database,
so that information is immediately pulled up with the input of the
first few letters.
The system also provides geo-referenced charts for areas of the
world beyond the U.S, including Europe, Asia and the Middle
East.
When integrated with the aircraft's flight management system
(FMS) this information can be overlaid on the systems'
geo-referenced electronic charts and airport diagrams, allowing
flight crews to monitor actual aircraft positions. As a result,
operating at night, in low visibility conditions or at unfamiliar
airports becomes more intuitive.
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