ACSS (Hall 4, Stand A12) has been busy taking competitors' products off aircraft and replacing them with its own.
The bonus has come courtesy of upcoming 2005 European mandates for terrain awareness warning systems (TAWS), traffic alert and collision avoidance systems (TCAS) and Mode-S transponders.
Kris Ganase, new president of ACSS, says: "The European TCAS mandate will make it compulsory for aircraft with a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of more than 12,500lb (5,600kg) to have TCAS fitted. This covers aircraft like the Beech 1900 and Embraer 120, and has resulted in an excellent sales opportunity for our T2CAS product.
"The Mode-S mandate for elementary and enhanced surveillance in March 2005 has also meant we have had to double our production. Our Mode-S transponder has been in production now for three or four years and, as we managed to anticipate these mandates, all we need to do is a software upgrade.
Ability
"Most of our competitors don't have this ability. In some cases they have to replace the boxes completely or send them back for major changes. We have been going back to customers and saying 'If you are going to have to take the box out anyway why not upgrade to ours?'
"We thought we would get some business, but didn't anticipate the amount we actually won. Many airlines in Europe, including British Airways, are taking our competitors' Mode-S off and putting ours on," Ganase says.
ACSS is busy getting supplemental type certification (STC) for T2CAS. It still has around 30-40 to complete, and recently announced successful STCs for aircraft flying with Aeromexico, Air Atlanta, Icelandic, European Air Transport and Virgin Express.
This is Ganase's first airshow since he took up the post last month and he is keen to meet new and old faces at the ACSS exhibit on joint parent company L-3 Communications' stand.
"When we took over the company from Honeywell, we just had TCAS. We knew that we wouldn't be able to survive unless we grew our product line. Our goal is to add a new product every year and add functionality via software not hardware. This is the backbone of our Protector+ product, which should gain certification next year.
Platform
"We have a common platform and can build in functionality depending upon on customers' exact requirements," Ganase says.
ACSS products also include the TCAS 2000 traffic alert and collision avoidance system; MASS, an enhanced TCAS for military operations; a family of Mode S transponders; TAWS+, a stand-alone TAWS; and the Dlink+ communications management unit.
Source: Flight Daily News
