Synthetic Vision System Approved For Cessna 550
Cobham Avionics in Mineral
Wells, TX, formerly known as S-TEC Corporation, has been
authorized by the FAA as an Organization Designation Authorization
(ODA) entity for Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) projects. As
part of ODA, the FAA delegates an organization the authority to
perform its own certification activities under FAA oversight. This
represents the second such designation for a Cobham business unit;
in 2008 Chelton Flight Systems, now also known as Cobham Avionics,
was among the first organizations in the United States to be
certified under ODA.
The FAA first established the ODA program in August 2006 with
the intention of making their overall certification process more
safe, effective and efficient. ODA establishes a systems-based
approach for FAA safety oversight of experienced manufacturers.
These manufacturers must have considerable experience and a
detailed, documented competence in part-by-part compliance with
regulatory standards. In return, by establishing and implementing
the ODA program, the FAA is able to concentrate its resources on
the most safety-critical areas of aviation and the development and
application of new technologies.
Cobham will offer STC support to
agencies that desire or need ODA services for the pursuit of their
own STC. The Mineral Wells facility features a complete ODA support
staff, including electrical and mechanical engineers, mechanics,
avionics installers, conformity inspectors and pilots.
In a related development, Cobham's synthetic vision system glass
cockpit has been granted a supplemental type certificate (STC) for
the Cessna 550. The installation represents the business
unit's first STC for synthetic vision on a transport-category
aircraft (Federal Aviation Administration Regulations Part-25).
"Approval of this revolutionary system for transport-category
aircraft brings tremendous capability to older, analog-equipped
aircraft," said Mike Sheehan, Vice President of Cobham
Avionics. "With the recent STC for the Bell 412, Cobham now
has the only synthetic vision system certified in all four
regulatory classes of aircraft: large and small airplanes, and
large and small helicopters."
The 550 STC (#ST09694AC) is configured with dual synthetic
vision primary flight displays (PFD) and dual multi-function
displays (MFD), each with embedded Class-A terrain awareness and
warning system (TAWS), integral flight management system (FMS), and
digital flight recording. Additional features include dual
fiber-optic attitude gyros and dual GPS-WAAS. The system uses
the aircraft's existing RVSM air data computers.
The system provides sensor comparators and cross-side sensor
switching, and interfaces with the original autopilot to give it
full roll-steering capability to fly all instrument procedures
hands-off, including procedure turns, holding patterns and entries,
DME arcs, and missed approaches, reducing pilot
workload.
Cobham Display File Photo
Additional capabilities include TCAS-I, TCAS-II, and ADS-B
display, datalink weather, both single- and dual-cue flight
directors, highway-in-the-sky (HITS) predictive flight director,
conformal runway depiction, dual DME display, and Stormscope
display.
Installation of the system typically results in a 100lbs
weight-saving that allows a commensurate saving in fuel or
increases the useful load that can be carried.