Thales has revealed more details about the new flightdeck suite it is supplying for the new -600 versions of the ATR 42 and 72.
Thales beat Honeywell and Rockwell to win the contract to supply an advanced integrated avionics suite for the new twin-turboprop aircraft, which will enter service in 2010.
All the aircraft will come off the production line with global navigation satellite system/wide area augmentation (GNSS/WAAS) navigation capability as standard.
This will enable the aircraft to carry out required navigation performance (RNP) approaches to the 0.3 standard, and it has an autopilot that can deliver a Category 3A decision height of 50ft (16m), says Gil Michielin, Thales' general manager commercial aircraft solutions. Michielin says the capability to extend RNP accuracy to 0.1 is built in.
The avionics in both existing ATR variants are supplied by several different manufacturers around a Honeywell flight management system.
The new fully integrated flight avionics suite comprises five large LCD displays. Thales has been designated the tier-one systems integrator, which entails tying in components from other manufacturers as required.
The navigation display will be offered with an optional vertical display, and the cockpit will be paperless. Pilots will be able to call digital approach plates up on to the navigation display, and the aircraft's real-time position on the chart will be displayed.
Thales says the contract will be worth $400 million over 10-12 years, given that high fuel prices and a drive for economy in the regional aircraft marketplace have led to a resurgence in demand for turboprops.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
