Deep within the cavernous Dallas Convention Center during Heli-Expo in early March, Universal Avionics will display the mock-up of its InSight integrated avionics suite in an exhibit booth adjacent to MD Helicopters, the aircraft manufacturer that lined up four years ago to be the first customer for the avionics vendor’s boldest product launch yet.
In 2013, Universal and MDHI announced that the InSight system would adorn the cockpit of the MD 902 light twin as a forward-fit and retrofit option. It was a strategic coup for the Swiss-owned, Tucson-based avionics supplier. At the time, Universal was seeking to expand from supplying major components to integrated systems on production aircraft and fulfil a long-term vision by expanding into a then-booming market for light- and medium-sized commercial helicopters.
Four years later, the InSight system is developing nicely as a retrofit option in the fixed-wing business jet market, but the MD 902 forward-fit programme – not unlike the light and medium-twin helicopter market in general – is stalled and no recovery seems, well, in sight.
Universal has completed installation of the InSight system – including user control and input devices, primary flight and multifunction displays and flight management system, and navigation systems – in MDHI’s company-owned testbed. It has been integrated with several existing components, including the autopilot and radios, two subsystems that Universal adapts to the open-architecture InSight. Initial ground testing began in November but halted to let MDHI perform scheduled maintenance on the MD 902, says Grady Dees, Universal’s technical sales director.
“We’re waiting for them to get the aircraft back in an airworthy condition,” Dees says. “Meanwhile, we’ve been cranking away at software.”
The InSight product itself is not being held back by the delay to the MD 902 forward-fit programme. Cessna Citation VII business jet cockpits are now flying with a certificated InSight retrofit system. The MD 902 fleets remains a candidate for a retrofit InSight package, Dees says. Universal is also in talks with multiple helicopter manufacturers and operators about forward-fit and retrofit programmes, he says.
Nor does Universal appear to be suffering. A visit to the manufacturer’s 60,000ft2 assembly line in Tucson in mid-December revealed a humming operation, churning out circuit boards at a rate of one every 3-4min to power Universal’s diverse catalogue of about 35 avionics products, including displays, flight management systems, recorders and control units. As several US Federal Aviation Administration mandate deadlines approach by 2020, Universal is discussing options for adding shifts to increase delivery volumes.
But the status of the forward-fit programme on the MD 902 must feel disappointing. The selection by MDHI in 2013 sent a clear message to the helicopter industry. The small community of integrated avionics vendors on aircraft in production had a new member with Universal, the proud inventor of the navigation FMS for the business aviation industry in the early 1980s. Instead of providing only the FMS, display or other components, Universal had raised its ambitions to be an integrated flightdeck supplier for aircraft in production. The work, however, continues, according to Dees.
If not at Heli-Expo, then some time in the future, Universal expects the InSight system to be selected for more retrofit and forward-fit programmes in the helicopter market.
“We have so many irons in the fire, and I can’t talk about some of them,” Dees says. “For the rotary market, we have a lot of things near a commitment, but we don’t have a committed customer. We definitely have a lot of opportunities.”
Meanwhile, Universal continues to develop its traditional retrofit-heavy business in the commercial helicopter market, with the help of key dealers, such as Heli-One. Universal’s ambitions to expand in the commercial helicopter market dates back several years, to a time when the segment offered a rare bright spot of growth in the larger business and general aviation markets hammered by the global financial crisis that erupted in 2008. Escalating oil prices fuelled a boom in oil and gas exploration, which depends on helicopters to gain access to remote oilfields and offshore drilling rigs. The collapse in oil prices in 2014, however, triggered an ongoing slump in helicopter sales.
The swing in fortunes in the civil helicopter market has stifled momentum on Universal’s forward-fit portfolio, such as InSight. But in some ways the reluctance to buy new aircraft off assembly lines has increased demand for Univesal’s retrofit business.
“Our business has been heavily retrofit in the past anyway,” Dees says. “So the OEMs are more affected by this downturn in new deliveries than we are in the retrofit business. Actually, in some ways it increases our business because people decide, ‘We’re not going to buy new helicopters. Let’s see what we can do with what we have and either repurpose them or put them in new roles or go after different contracts’.”
The combination of the oil price bust and safety related operational restrictions imposed in some areas on the Airbus H225 has opened new opportunities for Universal, including cockpit upgrades for a large worldwide fleet of Sikorsky- and Westland-built S-61 heavy lifters. Only a few years ago, that fleet was expected to be retired as swarms of H225s, Sikorsky S-92s and other new products flowed off packed assembly lines.
“There’s still life left in those machines,” Dees says. “It’s a lot more cost-effective than purchasing a new S-92 or a new heavy lift helicopter with all the uncertainty with the H225 these days.”
Universal is perhaps uniquely suited to increasing retrofit demand. The highly automated electronics assembly line in Tucson offers a case in point. In defiance of industry trends, Universal declined to outsource the critical ingredient of any electronics vendor: the circuit board. Instead, a relatively small group of workers monitors a line of automated machines, which lay solder on the boards, install components, heat the result and then let the solder cool. Other machines perform visual inspections and functional testing.
By keeping the automated assembly process in house, Universal believes it maximises options in a famously fickle retrofit market. With about 35 major products built in thousands of configurations, it is impossible to project demand for retrofit items with any certainty. Business jet and helicopter owners tend to order upgrades when an aircraft is parked for maintenance, so responding quickly to demand is critical to Universal’s operations.
Steve Pagnucco, Universal’s vice-president of operations, says: “We’re not going to spend any amount of our time complaining about marketing’s lousy forecast. We’re going to spend 100% of our time reacting quickly to the reality of the market.”
Beyond civil helicopters, Universal Avionics also is gearing up to capture an anticipated wave of retrofit and forward-fit opportunities in the military helicopter and fixed-wing special missions markets. The company is already the FMS supplier for a large variety of Sikorsky helicopter and Beechcraft fixed-wing aircraft, making the transition to the military arena an attractive fit.
At the same time, Universal won’t give up on the vision to become a forward fit supplier of integrated avionics in the commercial helicopter market. The upcoming Heli-Expo may be too soon to expect to see a break-out, but the time may not be far away, either.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
