Rockwell Collins Promotes Solutions For Cabin and Cockpit Electronics

Pro Line 21 Continuum

It'll be a four-pronged approach for Rockwell Collins at this year's NBAA show, as the Cedar Rapids company emphasizes its Pro Line 21 and Pro Line 21 Continuum cockpit systems, future developments for the flight deck, and cabin electronics developed internally and by the newly acquired Airshow.

Pro Line 21 installations continue to grow, and Rockwell Collins will disclose here that two more aircraft will offer the system as standard equipment. The company continues to support existing platforms-Raytheon's Hawker 800XP and Premier 1, plus Cessna's CJ1 and CJ2-and is progressing in flight tests on Bombardier's Continental, slated for certification next year.

In the area of functionality, Rockwell Collins is working with Jeppesen to bring an electronic chart capability to the Pro Line 21-equipped cockpit. Employing a file server unit, the capability will bring taxi stops and approach plates to the Pro Line 21 multi-function displays.

On the Rockwell Collins stand visitors will find: the three-display Pro Line 21 system for the CJ1, CJ2 and Premier 1; the four-display system for the Hawker 800XP, and a Flight Dynamics HGS4000 head-up display that visitors will be able to "fly."

Pro Line 21 Continuum for the retrofit market is recognizing its one-year anniversary after its launch at last year's NBAA convention, and has "completed all the certifications we wanted," says Rockwell Collins senior director of strategic management Bryan Vester, who named the Challenger 601, Falcon 20 and Falcon 50.

The Collins FDS-2000 five-inch LCD flight display system has been certificated on the Challenger 601 and Citation III. Designed as a functional replacement of conventional flight director indicators, the FDS-2000 provides current-generation aircraft with advanced operational capabilities, including weather, traffic and terrain avoidance and FMS navigation maps.

Moving on to future developments on the flight deck, Rockwell Collins will bring its Pro Line 21 Advanced Flight deck simulator to NBAA again this year. The major addition for NBAA 2002 is the integration of a Flight Dynamics HGS4000 head-up display with outside visual onto the flight deck. "We will also demonstrate terrain profiling, electronic charting, pull-down menus with cursor control and concepts on datalink management," Vester says.

The fourth leg of the stool will arguably be the company's most important this year: cabin electronics. Rockwell Collins just completed its acquisition of Airshow, and it will use this year's NBAA as a coming-out party for its new family of cabin electronics systems for cabin control, entertainment, and business productivity through a "global office."

"Our concept is to integrate those three and tie them together on a common communications backbone," says Vester. "Airshow brings a tremendous amount of capability in this area, and we will build on what we have with Pro Line 21 in terms of architecture."

By Barry Rosenberg