New Panes For Old Planes

Envious of your hangar neighbor with his new glass cockpit equipped airplane? No money (or desire) for a new plane? There's at least one more player in the market now who is thinking just about you: They're called Sagem Avionics and they're working on a glass cockpit solution that will be STC'ed for popular GA airplanes.

Sagem Avionics is a subsidiary of a European Hi-Tech giant named Sagem Corp. These guys are in the business for almost everything electronic -- from military avionics through fingerprint scanners. They have taken over what used to be ARNAV (remember the early Cirrus MFD?) and are now working on a complete glass cockpit solution that will be available both in new aircraft and as retrofits.

The Sagem system is centered around one display unit that they call the Integrated Cockpit Display System (ICDS). This display is available in either an 8" or a 10" size and can be mounted in a portrait or landscape orientation. In fact, you can even mix and match: install the PFD in portrait installation and the MFD in landscape, or vice versa.

The overall design of the system shows the heavy metal background of the company (they make components for airliners and big helicopters). For example, system building blocks are designed to be easily replaced in the field with no requirement for complicated tinkering for a particular installation.

Also, individual displays may be doubled, providing for a configuration with dual PFDs. Standard features on the system include a terrain warning system that continuously display a profile view of the next 35 miles in the airplane's flight path. Customers may also select Sagem's weather downlink system. This system is based on GlobalSat satellite telephone technology and unlike the popular XM and WSI system, is a response-reply based system.

It may also be configured with a voice-capable satellite telephone. The other thing unique to this system is that it has coverage outside of the US: The GlobalSat satellite coverage is (duh!) global, and Sagem's weather feeds cover not only the US but the whole American Continent, the Caribbean, the North Atlantic, Europe, Asia, and the Southern Pacific region.

In terms of certification efforts, the system has already been certified for several rotorcraft applications including heavyweights such as the S-64 Air-Crane and GA models such as the Bell 206 JetRanger. Next in the pipeline is the Cessna 100 series, with first STC's expected within weeks.

By next summer, Sagem promises, many more models will join the ranks. Pricing is not yet set and will depend, of course, on the exact configuration selected for each of the models. The system will also make an appearance in several new OEM applications.

FMI: www.sagemavionics.com