Honeywell has unveiled plans to offer new upgrades for its Sentinel multi-function display, including new voice callouts that will inform pilots how far they are from other traffic.
Honeywell senior test pilot Steven Kilbourne told Flightglobal during Heli-Expo 2010 in Houston that "extended voice capabilities" have been developed for the traffic alert or TCAS component of the Sentinel. This will allow pilots, who are now simply alerted by voice to traffic, to be also told how far apart the two aircraft are flying.
Kilbourne says the new version of the Sentinel will also eliminate unnecessary warnings caused by aircraft on the ground.
Honeywell installed the upgraded Sentinel on its Eurocopter AS350 flying demonstrator just prior to Heli-Expo. During the show Kilbornue showcased some of the new capabilities to customers through demonstration flights from Houston Hobby Airport. Kilbourne says the upgraded Sentinel is expected to be certified late this year.
The Sentinel, which also features an enhanced ground proximity warning or GPWS component that was able to meet the HTAWS requirements outlined by the FAA last year without any modifications, is geared towards lower-end helicopters. Honeywell also produces the Observer, a larger multifunction display with TCAS and GPWS components that is more typically used in larger helicopters.
Honeywell, which for several years has been a leading supplier of cockpit safety products for helicopters, shrugged off the launch at Heli-Expo of a rival HTAWS product by Garmin, claiming Honeywell has a superior database. While Honeywell has been offering terrain avoidance products for helicopters for an entire decade interest in the technology has really spiked in recent years due to the rise of accidents caused by controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). "We have seen it go way down in the fixed-wing world. Our mission is to see it go down in the helicopter world," says Honeywell aerospace flight test operations manager Dennis Martin.
Kilbourne adds: "It took us a while to get it [GPWS or HTAWS] accepted. Our friends at Sikorsky have certainly given us a big boost because they won't flat out make an aircraft without it anymore and operators like Shell are insisting on it. [But] there is still a lot of the fleet that doesn't have it and a lot of pilots don't like a box telling them what to do."
Source: Flight International
