Professional Pilot, May 2018

displayed and provides the conventional cues for flying But the FPV especially when used with SVS enables a pilot to see the flight path regardless of pitch attitude and can help them clear an obstacle or terrain or pinpoint a landing area The RoadRunner EFI HSI also integrates TAWs color convention of the terrain and the SVS depiction on the ADI includes terrain with an overlay of the pitch scale and the aircrafts fixed pitch reference symbol The TAWS integration and display allows the pilot to put into a visual context the aural warning and build a picture instantly with the use of terrain obstacle symbols and color The red color of the RoadRunner EFI is bright enough to get anyones attention and the perspective terrain SVS features that Astronautics is offering will be a new safety tool that will keep pilots out of these situations in the first place On the EFI display are the navigation essentials including radar altimeter the HSI heading and NAV needles for VOR or ILS DME 1 and DME 2 range and other lateral and vertical mode information The HSI also provides the display of obstacles Astronautics has begun to sign up dealers for the RoadRunner EFI with distribution in multiple US and international locations Original planning for SVS One of the important points to note about the development of the Road 74 PROFESSIONAL PILOT May 2018 Runner EFI has to do with the original planning and technology for synthetic vision at the early stages of the systems development Astronautics engineers are front line participants in the now famous RTCA 213 Committee for EFVS and SVS This committee is made up of the leading avionics OEMs and experts in flight deck design Theyve crafted and fielded several new and significant innovations for the fixed wing community and have lately focused on helos Committee members from Astronautics members brought their own flavor of the helo world to SVS and instrument making providing RTCA 213 practical wisdom in the development of aviation standards for helo SVS today There is more to come from this think tank within Astronautics focused on providing the next generation of helicopter with instruments that will keep pilots safer New helicopter secure data and communications As part of their more advanced helicopter products is the move by Astronautics into helicopter connectivity to provide mobile device interface secure data transfer and cyber world thinking for data communication products The companys AGCS is for rotary wing workhorse fleets of all classes and its designed to provide ground connectivity data download of remote media and connectivity for the flight crew mission crew passengers and maintenance technicians The AGCS is comprised of an airborne communications server connectivity module and remote media or storage device on the aircraft The system is being designed to support video streaming as well The AGCS also provides the ability to communicate through 3G and 4G LTE a nice affordable way to utilize cellphone tower connections The specific unit called AFS 6460 also sports WiFi so anyone on the aircraft can be connected and operating with mobile devices and computers Announced in 2017 was the Astronautics connected solution for Airbus helicopters as original equipment with wireless access to data inflight or on the ground These are very small lightweight devices that Astronautics has engineered for the helicopter community and the cybersecurity aspects of the companys systems should interest helicopter operators in need of secure communications both in flight and on the ground The road of product creation The creation of any new aviation product is hard or else everyone would do it And the construction of reliable helicopter products to meet the challenges of the helicopter operating environment is not for the weak of mind The development of helicopter connectivity cyber secure servers and replacement flight instruments must be based on skill and engineering as well as a long range commitment to a market which Astronautics made decades ago Lengthy periods required in the hangar to upgrade your helicopter adds a cost that often times is greater than just money But with the installation of the new Astronautics Road Runner EFI and only a few hours of work you may find that the only down time youll have is deciding to which museum you should send your old instruments The Astronautics RoadRunner EFI displaying Helicopter Terrain Awareness and Warning System HTAWS can also be upgraded to include synthetic vision Glenn Connor is president of Discover Technology Intl He is a pilot and a researcher specializing in the development of enhanced vision systems and advanced avionics