Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
The US Federal Aviation Administration plans to include business aircraft in new rules requiring installation of the enhanced ground-proximity warning system (EGPWS) in all turbine-powered aircraft with six or more passenger seats. Types as small as the Raytheon Beech King Air will be affected.
The proposal appears certain to meet opposition from corporate operators, which had been expecting the proposed new regulations to apply only to aircraft in commercial service. Existing rules require installation of basic GPWS in aircraft with 10 or more seats, but only if on commercial service.
EGPWS developer AlliedSignal Aerospace calculates that up to 20,000 US-registered aircraft will be covered by the widened mandate, more than double its original estimate for commercial aircraft alone. As a result, the company is developing smaller and cheaper versions of its EGPWS.
A notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) is expected in May, leading to a final rule at the end of the year with an effective date of December 1999. Installation of what the FAA calls the terrain avoidance and warning system (TAWS) is to be mandated in two stages: new production aircraft are to be equipped from December 2000; and all affected aircraft are to be retrofitted by December 2003.
Operators of affected aircraft will be able to comment on the NPRM, before the rule becomes final. Airlines support the proposal, but air-taxi operators are concerned about its cost. AlliedSignal says the list price of an airline-standard EGWPS is $68,000, plus installation. Asystem for regional and business aircraft will cost about half that, the company says.
Teledyne Controls expects prices to drop significantly when its competing system, developed jointly with Dassault Electronique, becomes available inMarch 1999. Other competitors are expected to enter the EGPWS/TAWS market.
The US National Air Transport Association, representing air-taxi and corporate charter operators, says the EGPWS is "a good safety tool", but expects the new rule to be "expensive". The association is hoping for phased installation to minimise the cost impact.
Source: Flight International
