Digital Altimeter Shrinks Cost of RVSM Equipment

Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum equipment will get much less expensive in March 1999, when Honeywell expects to earn TSO certification of its AM-250 solid-state altimeter. Developed with partner Ametek, the AM-250 RVSM unit features dual, silicon pressure transducers, altitude encoder and ARINC 429 air data outputs, plus an aircraft-specific, static source position correction module. A true airspeed output for FMS wind computations is a $2,000 option. It's all packaged in a 3-ATI box that's 6.7 inches long, and weighs less than three pounds. The retail price is $17,000. Now, if only the RVSM certification process weren't so astronomically expensive