Pilots Know They are On Solid Ground With Latest Terrain Avoidance Displays

AlliedSignal may have a head start in the marketplace with its Enhanced GPWS, but at least two other manufacturers are expected to introduce products soon that will be certificated as an FAA approved Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS).

Whether these new systems coming from Dassault Electronique/Teledyne Controls and Universal Avionics (unveiled here at NBAA) will be approved before a new rule requiring TAWS on thousands of turbine airplanes goes into effect remains to be seen, however.

The FAA has issued its long-anticipated proposal to require turbine airplanes with six or more passenger seats to have TAWS (also referred to as an enhanced ground proximity warning systems). The rule would apply to FAR Part 91 airplanes as well as those operated under Parts 135 and 121.

About 5,500 jets and 5,700 turboprops operating under Part 91 would be affected by the rule, according to FAA estimates. An additional 220 newly manufactured turboprops and 120 newly-manufactured jets would be affected annually.

Together with Part 121 operations, and the TAWS requirement applies to nearly 20,000 airplanes.

Elliott Aviation of Moline, Ill. is one of the first installers to obtain an STC for installation of an AlliedSignal EGPWS in smaller turbine aircraft that will be subject to TAWS requirements (King Airs and Beechjet 400s in this case). A spokesperson for Elliott says an EGPWS installation and signoff takes about a week. Installed price of the system (either the Mark V or Mark VII) in Beechjets and King Airs is about $125,000 and $65,000, respectively, plus the cost of required displays.

Over the next 12 months, AlliedSignal will develop its Mark VI EGPWS, intended for lighter business and commuter aircraft. This unit is expected to have a suggested retail price of about $25,000.

Meanwhile, Dassault Electronique is planning on marketing its Ground Collision Avoidance System (GCAS) as a TAWS, marketed in the United States by Teledyne Controls. Similar to other next-generation, ground proximity warning systems, the GCAS has both the reactive GPWS features and the new predictive TAWS functions.

The initial version, planned for introduction on the Falcon 2000, provides aural and visual annunciations of potential terrain hazards, but it lacks the graphic terrain map display offered by AlliedSignal's Enhanced GPWS. An updated version, slated for certification in March 1999 on the Airbus A320 and Falcon 2000, will provide a graphic terrain map display.