Cargo and charter flight operation ABX Air, Inc. and Innovative Solutions and Support (IS&S) told Aero-News this week that the two companies have successfully obtained a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) from the FAA for installation of glass panel technology in the cockpits of Boeing 767s (below).

Under a partnership between the two companies, ABX Air will install IS&S flat-panel screens in B757 and B767 airliners, as well as handle training duties on the components.

With the acquisition of the STC, both companies are aggressively marketing the technology as a turnkey solution to the owners of more than 1,700 B757 and B767 aircraft in operations throughout the world. The agreement allows quick retrofit of these planes with Primary Flight/Navigation Display Systems, with completion in less than four days.

"This agreement dramatically compresses the downtime for a flat panel upgrade," said IS&S Chairman and CEO Geoffrey S. M. Hedrick. "Our goal is to eventually offer an overnight training and retrofit package to install these state-of-the-art flat panel technologies."

Hedrick said the programmability of the company's flat-panel systems provides pilots with a greater degree of situational awareness, that will become more important as airline traffic and international trade increases over the next decade and governments mandate technologies that provide more detailed and precise flight data to make skies safer.

"Until now, the widespread adoption of flat panel technology has been limited by the investment and downtime required to successfully retrofit outdated flight decks with today's technology," says Hedrick. "Our arrangement with ABX eliminates all barriers to adoption."

"At the same time, IS&S solutions dramatically slice the costs of these retrofits and put the planes back in the air faster, restoring the aircraft to revenue generating service for their owners in a matter of days, said Hedrick.

This new flat panel technology improves dispatch reliability and provides weight reductions, improving revenue per mile for cargo and passenger airlines. The technology's flexibility allows for easy reprogramming and upgrades. Flat panels also provide for standardized flight deck presentation, reducing training time and cost.

"Clearly, flat panel technology offers a full spectrum of operator benefits," says Dennis A. Manibusan, Senior Vice President, Maintenance & Engineering. "This new agreement brings this technology within reach of an increasing portion of the existing B757 and B767 fleet, vastly accelerating flat panel adoption throughout aviation."

FMI: www.abxair.com, www.innovative-ss.com