Sat, Feb 21, 2004
Chelton EFIS To Fly Aboard GlobalFlyer
Chelton Flight Systems' synthetic vision EFIS (Electronic Fight
Instrument System) has been selected for the Virgin Atlantic
GlobalFlyer. Steve Fossett expects to fly the aircraft around the
world, non-stop, covering 23,000 miles in just under 80 hours in
either April or October.
Designed and built by Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites, the
GlobalFlyer had to meet very exacting criteria for lifting the
enormous load of fuel needed for the journey. Component strength,
reliability and weight are critical. Chelton Flight Systems, which
has hundreds of EFIS units already flying in both experimental and
certified aircraft, has the advantages of providing a tremendous
volume of navigation information along with aircraft performance
data and engine function data in a compact, lightweight
package.
The EFIS will be the primary source of flight instrumentation
and navigation for the round-the-world flight. The system will
provide guidance from advanced FAA-certified Highway-In-The-Sky
(HITS) predictive flight director and real-time moving map
technology along the entire route of flight, along with seamless
three-dimensional terrain modeling.
It also monitors engine performance parameters, fuel flow,
waypoint ETAs, weather, and numerous other variables. The entire
flight plan can be input prior to takeoff and can be amended
enroute if weather or other conditions dictate. The system is
coupled to a three axis autopilot and all Fossett will need to do
is watch the aircraft fly through the HITS (a continuous sequence
of green boxes denoting the appropriate course).
There are two display units in the panel, both of which serve
the functions of over a dozen different instruments, saving
tremendous weight and space. The two units provide redundancy.
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