Avionics

The FAA has formally requested the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to address the issue of declining manual flight skills among airline pilots. In a brief submitted to ICAO, the agency says pilots have become too dependent on aircraft systems and either haven’t adequately learned or have not maintained their ability to manually control their […]

With only three months to go before the 2020 ADS-B deadline, avionics shops are backed up three to nine months and most expect the backlog to increase next year. The ADS-B mandate has ignited demand for panel upgrades in general and many customers are scheduling ADS-B now, and full panels later. “I am currently scheduling […]

A major avionics shop says about 5,000 business aircraft will miss the Jan. 1 deadline to be equipped with ADS-B. Duncan Aviation, which has been closely monitoring equipage data, said in a report last week that with 16 weeks to go before the end of the year, 23 percent, or 3,384 business jets, don’t have […]

With much talk about modern avionics in recent years, from glass cockpits to ADS-B, one fact remains unchanged: most aircraft have vacuum systems and gyroscopic instruments that sometimes fail. Although, there are pilots flying today’s skies that have never seen a gyroscopic instrument or have had to execute an NDB approach—with such instruments covered—there are […]

uAvionix has begun shipping tailBeacon ADS-B Out units after receiving STC approval for the device. The company announced the approval on Friday and said it has been building and stockpiling tailBeacons since receiving TSO approval on the four essential elements of the device just before AirVenture. The $2,000 units are available directly from uAvionix and […]

Airlines have ordered dozens of MAX simulators since the planes were grounded earlier this year. In its most recent quarterly earnings report, CAE, the largest manufacturer of airliner simulators, said it had taken orders for 47 MAX simulators and expected to deliver 22 by the end of the year. “Clearly there is going to be […]

Garmin’s G1000H NXi integrated flight deck system for helicopters has received its IFR certification, according to a company announcement on Thursday. The certification was achieved in a Bell 407GXi, a model that was introduced at the 2018 Heli-Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. G1000H NXi features include Garmin’s helicopter terrain awareness warning system (HTAWS), helicopter synthetic […]

The Aircraft Electronics Association launched a new jobs board over the Labor Day weekend, which, they say, allows job seekers to find employment opportunities sortable by company name, keyword, location and job type. AEA member companies can post these jobs at no cost for 30 days. “The need for technical talent continues to be an […]

Garmin has announced that it intends to certify the GFC 600H helicopter flight control system on the Bell 505 Jet Ranger X. The company expects to have the Supplemental Type Certification (STC) for the Bell 505 by the first half of 2020 and plans to make it available through the Bell production line and Garmin […]

The FAA has requested information from pilots and maintenance personnel in connection with reported failures of the FreeFlight Systems FDL-987-XVR ADS-B transceiver. The FAA is seeking user feedback and is not proposing ameliorative action yet. According to the FAA, “We have received reports of latent failures of FreeFlight model FDL-978-XVR ADS-B units. Troubleshooting determined that […]