In a sense, it's all downhill from here for Honeywell; that is,
with respect to Primus Epic certification. John Uczekaj, evp and
general business manager for business, regional and general aviation
at Honeywell, is breathing a sigh of relief in the aftermath of
the Gulfstream G550 PlaneView certification in August.
Uczekaj, (pronounced "you-za-keye") says there were
substantial hurdles to overcome in gaining the FAA's nod for the
Gulfstream's Primus Epic-based avionics suite, not with hardware
or software, but in going where no one had gone before-creating
a TSO for the modular avionics. Uczekaj explains that typically
the FAA looks at a TSO'd system as a "black box," and
if someone changes anything about the box, it has to be TSO'd
again.
For Primus Epic, Honeywell decided it would be advantageous for
future applications to petition the black box, TSO'ing the hardware
separate from the software so that changes could be made to software
with no need to revisit the hardware TSO. Uszekay says it was
a "very big step" in terms of petitioning hardware and
software-and had never been done before in the business aviation
industry.
As a result of the effort, Uczekaj says future certifications
of Primus Epic, an open-architecture modular digital avionics
platform that's being branded and customized into products like
the Gulfstream PlaneView and Dassault EASy cockpits, will be simpler
and quicker. With the TSO in hand and the G550 PlaneView (based
on Primus Epic) certification completed, Honeywell is now on a
roll, expecting to have certification in hand for three additional
Primus Epic-based systems by year's end. On tap next are the approvals
for the Dassault Falcon 900EX with EASy cockpit, Cessna Sovereign
and Embraer 170. Primus Epic, in various guises, is also the core
avionics platform in the Falcon 2000EX, Falcon 7X, Embraer 175
and 190, Agusta AB139 and Hawker Horizon.
"Now it will be a lot less time to bring changes to the market,"
Uczekaj says of the TSO work. "This makes us more of a competitor
and is a game-changer in the industry."
