Dassault says the Honeywell EASy II flight deck has already proved a popular new feature on the Falcon 900. The announcement comes as the French airframer prepares to certificate cockpit upgrades for two more jets.
European and US regulators approved certification of the EASy II avionics suite last June for the Falcon 900EX and LX.
Dassault is meanwhile working to certify the same upgrade for the Falcon 2000 and Falcon 7X fleets. Certification is now expected to be complete by the end of this year, and it is understood that both aircraft could finish the process between September and November.
Meanwhile, the Primus Epic-based system has been retrofitted on 40 Falcon 900s and installed new on 10 Falcon 900LX jets in less than a year, Dassault says. Three-quarters of the customers are based in the US, Dassault adds.
Adding the EASy II introduces Honeywell's SmartView synthetic vision system. The SmartView system overlays a three-dimensional, graphical representation of terrain for 65km (35nm) ahead of the aircraft onto a primary flight display rather than a head-up display. SmartView's terrain database is based on Honeywell's enhanced ground proximity warning system.
"It was obvious this solution would give us greater confidence, whatever the weather," Dassault quotes Falcon 900 pilot Florian Kuhn as saying. "It gives the pilot a totally different view of the surroundings compared to just looking at the instruments."
Another new feature in the EASy II upgrade is a more efficient route planning system called required navigation performance - approval required (RNP-AR), which has been described as a "highway off-ramp" in airspace.
Honeywell also includes its SmartRunway and automatic descent mode features in the EASy II, helping pilots navigate taxiing and final approaches more safely.
Source: Flight Daily News
