Dassault's EASy Cockpit Makes European Debut

Dassault Falcon Jet revealed more details about its Enhanced Avionics System (EASy), a variant of Honeywell's Primus Epic advanced avionics system, to a select group of customers, consultants and industry observers at the first European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition, which was held in Geneva this past April. Small groups were given EASy demonstrations in Honeywell's Tool for Rapid Advanced Cockpit Simulation (TRACS), cloaked behind plain gray walls in an inconspicuous corner of the Palexpo convention hall.

Later, DFJ conducted a panel discussion during which select operators, airworthiness experts and a representative from Business & Commercial Aviation magazine were given an opportunity to voice their opinions about the system. All agreed EASy has great potential, but human factors issues regarding control of various avionics, airframe and systems functions have yet to be fully answered.

Dassault's goals for EASy are indeed ambitious. The firm believes improved situational awareness provided by the revolutionary new system can yield a quantum improvement in the business jet accident rate, which has remained virtually unchanged for two decades at one in one million flight hours.

EASy's key features include more intuitive display systems, flight planning using either a conventional keyboard or a graphic user interface and point-and-click cursor control device (CCD), integrated terrain display and intelligent menu management. The system features four 14.1-inch flat-panel displays arranged in a "T" configuration, two multifunction keyboard units in the pedestal and a CCD for each pilot.

EASy is slated for delivery aboard Falcon 900EX in second quarter 2003 and in the cockpit of the 2000EX in mid-2004.