Company to Revolutionize 'Sleepy' Airlines Avionics Market

ANN April 1st Special Edition: PS Engineering announced today that Delta Airlines will be the launch customer for its newest product, the PMW188. In a departure from the manufacturer's traditional product line, the new device is described as a marker beacon receiver with enhanced sensitivity, configured to trigger the playing of an MP3 recording of an alarm clock through an aircraft's normal audio system to the flight crew's headphones.

In the event an aircraft is about to overfly the destination programmed into its flight management system (FMS), the PMW188 is able to detect the outer marker beacon signal from as high as Flight Level 450, helping to alert crews to an imminent overshoot of their destination. To avoid falsing which could disrupt crew sleep patterns, the unit interfaces to the aircraft's existing ARINC 429 data bus to identify the destination airport programmed into the FMS, and reads current GPS position to alarm only over the correct beacon.

In defending the company's seeming divergence from its core business in developing the PMW188, PS Engineering Founder Mark Scheuer explained, "Not at all. This is perfectly in keeping with the premise of our company. Ever since the days when we were a two-man shop, soldering through-hole components onto circuit boards made with carbon tet and a Sharpie in my kitchen sink, our hallmark has been building products nobody else thought of. This fits right in."

Because the PMW188 is based on legacy building blocks which are already TSO'd, the only component needing rigorous testing before FAA approval is the high-gain antenna for the beacon receiver. The first units are expected to ship in the third quarter of this year. Delta will equip its entire fleet with the PMW188, starting with the former Northwest Airlines flights serving Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain Airport (KMSP).

Delta CEO Richard H. Anderson explained the airline's decision to equip its fleet in a particularly budget-conscious time. "This decision is a no-brainer. We went to our Human Resources Department, where all the bean-counters work, and asked them about cost-effectiveness," said Anderson. "They quickly discovered that the fuel savings achieved through shortening our average flight duration will pay for the new equipment by the second quarter of 2011.

"The goodwill generated among our employees by eliminating wake-up calls from the duties for our professional flight attendants is an ancillary benefit you can't put a price tag on."

Once fleet-wide deployment is complete, Delta will become eligible for a $1.6 billion subsidy from the Environmental Protection Agency for reduction of its carbon footprint.

PS Engineering expects the PMW188 to spawn a more extensive product line. Scheuer hints that there is already a variant in the works which uses a relay to actuate a large, mechanical alarm bell mounted directly to the headrests of cockpit seats. The first customer is rumored to be Hawaiian Airlines.

FMI: www.ps-engineering.com/waketheheckup, www.delta.com/whereamI