Dassault's EASy Solution for Situational Awareness

Scheduled airline and corporate accident rates have decreased dramatically during the last three decades, but the curve is flattening as it approaches one accident per 1,000,000 flight hours.

"There's a limit to how much improvement you can expect," Dassault senior civil aircraft VP Jean-Francois Georges said here. But that rate of improvement, he said, is not good enough.

Dassault Aviation and Honeywell, as a result, have created the Enhanced Avionics System, EASy for short, slated to make its debut on the Falcon 900EX in 2003. EASy, a custom designed, second-generation version of Honeywell's Primus Epic avionics technology, features four 10- by 13-inch, high-resolution flat-panel displays. The partners will give pilots the option of using a point-and-click graphic user interface, not unlike that of a laptop computer, to reduce head down time and increase system and situational awareness. Most functions also can be accomplished using a standard multifunction keyboard or dedicated system controls, if that better suits pilots' needs.

EASy portrait format displays are divided into left- and right-side Primary Display Units, providing the crew with flight and engine instruments, system indication and radio management functions. In the center of the panel, EASy features top and bottom Multifunction Display Units, used by the crew for more strategic tasks, such as graphic and textual flight management system functions, control of systems, and interactive checklist functions.

Watch for a full report, including an exclusive first flight demonstration, on EASy in the November issue of Business & Commercial Aviation.

By Fred George