Kieran Daly/SINGAPORE
A MAJOR US operator is the launch customer for an ambitious programme designed by US avionics and communications specialist ARINC to make "classic" long-haul aircraft compatible with the air-traffic system of the future.
ARINC is offering to develop solutions for any classics which operators want to continue using into the next century. The Annapolis, Maryland-based company says that the unidentified launch customer is looking to adapt a substantial Boeing 747-200 fleet.
Other candidate aircraft include McDonnell Douglas DC-10s, Lockheed L-1011 TriStars and Airbus Industrie A300Bs and A310s. ARINC instantly received several enquiries - including one from Iran Air - at the Global Navcom conference, held on 3-6 April in Singapore.
Making such aircraft compatible with the International Civil Aviation Organisation Communications Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management - or Future Air Navigation System (FANS) - concept is widely accepted as being a challenging task.
The FANS-compatible Boeing 747-400, for example, has an electronic flight-instrument system and uses an integrated architecture, including the global-positioning system, flight-management system, and automatic datalink. In contrast, older versions of the aircraft have analogue avionics and electro-mechanical instruments with none of the elements of the 747-400's FANS-1 system.
Source: Flight International
