EMERGENCY LANDING
The pilot of a light twin-engined aircraft was able, following a total electrical failure at night, to bring his aircraft back to base by using a hand-held emergency locator beacon and a mobile telephone. The electrical failure happened near the northern French coast on a flight from Pointoise, near Paris, to the aircraft's base at Oxford, UK on 19 December. When he turned on the beacon, the signal was picked up by the French emergency services, the UK's Swanwick area control centre, and the UK's search and rescue centre at Kinloss, Scotland which were able to track the aircraft throughout its 90min flight to Oxford.
SATCOM CONTRACT
EMS Sky Connect has clinched a contract from a leading US healthcare provider Carolinas Medical Center, to equip its MedCenter Air air ambulance inventory with its Fleet Satcom voice and tracking system. MedCenter Air operates a growing fleet of custom-equipped aircraft, including three Eurocopter EC135 helicopters, two Beechcraft King Air 200s and two Cessna Citation Vs.
GARMIN ADD-ONS
Garmin has introduced add-on capabilities for its G3X glass panel for light sport aircraft cockpits. Users of the G3X, which was introduced in 2009, can add an engine information system and an integrated autopilot interface to the system through a free software upgrade. Garmin has also introduced a new iPhone/iPod Touch app called Pilot My-Cast that provides aviation weather, flight planning and flight filing capabilities.
Source: Flight International
