Honeywell is predicting that "at least" 200 business aircraft will be retrofitted with its Primus Epic control display system (CDS) within the next five years. Many more aircraft, such as Cessna's Citation Sovereign and the Sino-Swearingen SJ30-2, will be fitted from new with the system, the company forecasts.
Honeywell hopes to certify the CDS on a Citation V in July 1999, with first delivery due to an unspecified retrofit customer on 15 August, says electronic flight instrument system technical manager Terry Flaishans.
The Epic CDS is being developed as a retrofit and forward fit option for aircraft with earlier SPZ-500/600 and -800 avionics, as well as Primus 1000/2000 systems. "It will replace the current CRT [cathode ray tube] and displays and provide a growth path to just about anything you want," says Flaishans.
The CDS and its capability to display advanced symbology was first shown to pilots at the show on Honeywell's Citation V testbed. The system had its first flight on the aircraft last month. About 75% of the software is operating, "-though we haven't got TCAS [traffic collision avoidance system] hooked up yet", says Flaishan.
Source: Flight International
