Gig Harbor-Based Helo Operation To Use System

Max-Viz Inc. recently announced the first EVS-1500 installation on a Bell 206 helicopter operated by Gig Harbor, WA-based charter and flight training outfit Columbia Flyers.

"This important installation will provide Columbia Flyers with a far more operationally appropriate sensor design for helicopter aviation," said Max-Viz president Elliott Troutman. "The dual FoV EVS-1500 incorporates a wide angle 53º FoV capability while additionally incorporating an optical zoom feature which presents a much higher resolution image in a 30º FoV. These two complementary images provide both a wide angle situational awareness perspective, while allowing for a much higher definition narrower FoV which allows for enhanced obstacle/ hazard detection, and runway/ landing zone imaging."

Troutman added the EVS-1500 is a product of "over three years of research and development, incorporating the essential elements determined through both internal product analysis and external customer derived feedback."

Bradley Pattison, owner of Columbia Flyers, had a significant interest in this installation. As an experienced trauma physician, and long standing Part-135 helicopter owner and operator, he saw the inherent safety benefits that enhanced vision could offer.

"With the increased accident rates being experienced by EMS aircraft nationwide, the consideration of a technology which provides both inadvertent IMC and CFIT avoidance capability in a passive and easily interpreted image should not be overlooked," Pattison said. "The enhancements presented in just the first few flights present a product that is a quantum improvement over the previous generation EVS-1000 sensor. I have been detecting specific targets out to distances far exceeding the previous generation EVS. These capabilities provide me with a significant Search and Rescue tool while the technical enhancements of this next generation sensor provide atmospheric resolution that far exceeds my wildest expectations."

Max-Viz designs and markets a series of small and affordable Enhanced Vision Systems for aircraft. The systems use real-time infrared sensors, signal processing, and a cockpit display to provide flight crews with actual images of terrain, runways, taxiways, aircraft and other potential obstacles during poor visibility conditions such as light fog, haze, smoke, precipitation and darkness.

The amended STC with PMA from Paravion Technology Inc. of Ft. Collins, CO incorporates the necessary switching and wiring provisions necessary for the next generation, dual field of view (FoV) EVS-1500 sensor.

FMI: www.max-viz.com