The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has approved Bombardier’s enhanced vision system (BEVS) for situational awareness only on the manufacturer’s Global business jets, but is working on a longer-term ruling aimed at giving operators landing credit for the system.
EASA’s action follows the 26 August US Federal Aviation Administration certification of the BEVS, which combines a CMC Electronics SureSight infrared sensor with a Thales head-up display (HUD).
The FAA certification allows instrument approaches below Category 1 decision altitude to 100ft (30m) above touchdown, provided the runway is visible using EVS, and provided that by 100ft above touchdown the crew has a “natural” view of the environment.
Transport Canada (TC) certification was achieved on 18 August. The FAA/TC test phase was conducted over two weeks in the northern winter in 2004-5 and covered 21 flights and 66h and included 88 approaches in night or in instrument meteorological conditions. To overcome logistical problems of finding and flying in the right weather conditions, Bombardier invited both FAA and TC crews to participate at the same time.
“To our knowledge, never before have pilots and flight-test engineers of two approval authorities, combined with the operational evaluation pilots, flown together on the same aircraft at the same time jointly performing the requisite flight evaluations,” says the company. Including Bombardier flight tests, the overall certification effort involved 52 flights and 176h, and included 196 approaches, of which 33 were at or below minimums.
The BEVS images both the ambient scene and runway lights with a single 1.3-5µm mid-wave IR sensor, routeing the video to the pilot’s HUD and, to allow the co-pilot to monitor the approach, the flight-management system control display unit in the centre console. Full HUD symbology is displayed along with the IR image by using raster scanning in EVS mode.
Standard on the ultra-long-range Global Express XRS, deliveries of which start early next year, the BEVS is a $506,000 option on the super-large Global 5000. The BEVS will also be available as a $720,000 retrofit for Global Expresses.
GUY NORRIS/LOS ANGELES
Source: Flight International
