Highway-in-the-sky flight guidance is becoming a reality, with US Federal Aviation Administration approval of Chelton Flight Systems' FlightLogic electronic flight instrument system (EFIS). The system has been selected by the FAA for retrofit to aircraft participating in its Capstone free-flight operational evaluation in Alaska.
The FlightLogic primary flight display (PFD) shows the flightpath in three dimensions, as a series of boxes over computer-generated terrain, to improve situational awareness. The complete EFIS includes the PFD, a navigation display, air-data computer, attitude and heading reference system, and GPS wide-area augmentation system (WAAS) receiver.
UPS Aviation Technologies, meanwhile, has introduced the Apollo CNX80, combining a flat-panel colour multifunction display with built-in GPS/WAAS receiver and VHF communication/navigation radio.
Source: Flight International
