ACSS is moving ahead with development of its T3CAS integrated TCAS, TAWS and Mode-S transponder product, which is due to be certified in the third quarter of 2009. Flight tests are scheduled for the middle of next January.
The company, which is jointly owned by L-3 Communications and Thales, is exhibiting on the L-3 stand (Booth 4200) and Kris Ganase, L-3’s president of the Aviation Products Group, says that the T3CAS product is ideal for the bizjet market as it combines three important modules in a single box.
“The weight and space savings are substantial,” says Ganase. “We do have bizjet customers lined up for T3CAS, but we can’t reveal who they are just yet.”
Ganase adds that T3CAS delivers lower acquisition and ownership costs and reduced wiring with improved power efficiency. T3CAS includes ACSS’s SafeRoute software suite. Its merging and spacing (MAS) facility allows pilots to plan their route more carefully by showing what aircraft are ahead up to 100nm out.
The pilot can then slow down or speed up to sequence or converge with them in a more efficient manner. ACSS says that this allows operators to keep engines near idle during so-called continuous descent arrival (CDA) procedures.
According to figures from carrier UPS, performing CDAs with SafeRoute reduces the noise footprint by 30%, emissions by 34%, and fuel burn by 40-70gal per arrival.
T3CAS is set to be certified on the Airbus single-aisle A318/319/320/321 and long-range A330/A340 aircraft, including the A340-500/600, and hosts a range of capabilities mandated by Eurocontrol’s programme for Air Traffic Situational Awareness (ATSA). Ganase adds that the company is in talks with other OEMs on the back of its recent Airbus deal.
Source: Flight Daily News
