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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 1678.PDF
B M PARIS SHOW REPORT SHOW REPORT PARIS 2003 Four months after US politi cians demanded their defence giants boycott the 45th Paris air show, the world's biggest aerospace gathering survived largely unscathed in terms of visi tor and exhibitor numbers. US exhibitors were down from 350 in 2001 to 283. But their absence was partly obscured by Airbus's A380 order confirmations, emphasis on unmanned air vehicles, an emotional last landing of Concorde, and strong Russian and Ukrainian presence. REPORT: ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, ANDREW DOYLE, MAX KINGSLEY-JONES, PETER LA FRANCHI, VLADIMIR KARNOZOV, PAUL LEWIS, CHRISTINA MACKENZIE, MURDO MORRISON, MICHAEL PHELAN, KATE SARSFIELD, BRENDAN SOBIE, GRAHAM WARWICK, JUSTIN WASTNAGE PHOTOGRAPHY: MARK WAGNER DEFENCE Mini-UAVs unveiled Israel's Elbit Systems and its subsidiary Silver Arrow have unveiled two mini-unmanned air vehicles designed for tacti cal close-range surveillance. The Seagull and Skylark hand-launched mini-UAVs each weigh about 5.5kg (121b), have a mission radius of up to 10km (5.5nm) and cruise at 20-40kt (37-74km/h). The air craft use GPS satellite guidance and fly autonomously, requiring only surveillance target selection by the operator. AIR TRANSPORT Embraer is working to get 170 programme back on the level Epic avionics hitch delays Embraer 170 approval First deliveries now planned for November as software issues set back certification Certification of the Embraer 170 has been pushed back by three months because of software delays with the 70-seat regional jet's Honeywell Primus Epic integrated avionics. First deliveries to Alitalia Express, originally set for August, are planned for November. Service entry could slip into next year. Because of the 170 delay, and deferral of ERJ-145 regional jet and Legacy business jet deliveries, Embraer has reduced its delivery forecast for the year to 110 aircraft, from 132. The Brazilian manufac turer, which at the show announced an order from an undisclosed Latin American cus tomer for 10 Embraer 190s, plus 20 options, has increased its 2004 forecast to 160 aircraft, from 136, due to reprogramming of ERJ-145 deliveries and demand for the 170. Software delays have forced Embraer to abandon plans for basic certification of the 170 in August, AIR TRANSPORT Software certification set back Honeywell has acknowledged that certification of its Primus Epic integrated avionics on several applications is taking longer than expected because of the system's modular, cabinet-based, software-partitioned architecture. "We are later than we want to be [on the Embraer 170 regional jet], but we are working through a very integrated, complete system," says Vicki Panhuise, vice-presi dent programmes, Honeywell Aerospace Electronic Systems. The system includes cockpit avionics, integrated utilities and fly-by-wire flight controls. "We are breaking a lot of new ground because it is so integrated and parti tioned," says Panhuise. The US Federal Aviation Administration has had to draw up new standards for separate certification of hardware and software in modular avionics. "We underestimated how much it would take," she says. Eight 170/175s are flying at Embraer with software load 9, and Honeywell has just delivered load 10. Load 11 will add Category 2 autopilot, autothrottle and windshear guidance and allow completion of certification flight testing. Load 12 is the certification standard software, says Panhuise. Bell/Agusta Aerospace received Italian type certification for the Epic- equipped AB139 helicopter at the show, while Gulfstream received provisional US approval for its Epic-based PlaneView cockpit in the G550 business jet in December, and is now testing the final certification software load. Dassault's Epic-based EASy cockpit has been flying for more than a year on the Falcon 900EX business jet. The final flight software is being tested and delayed certification is expected in September. EASy testing in the 2000EX began in January. The Epic-equipped Cessna Citation Sovereign is on track for approval late this year. Certification of the Raytheon Hawker Horizon, which has Epic avionics with integrated utilities, has been delayed to early next year. followed in November by full certifi cation with Category 2 autopilot, autothrottle, windshear guidance and additional flap settings. Alitalia will delay accepting the aircraft until the full functionality is approved, to avoid crew retraining costs. Embraer will build 12 aircraft this year, and deliver six to US Airways, but nego tiations with Alitalia continue. The delay does not affect the larger Embraer 175, which flew for the first time on 14 June and is scheduled for certification in the third quarter of next year. The recently revised schedule for the stretched Embraer 190/195 is also unaffected, with the 190 planned for certification in the third quarter of 2005 followed a year later by the larger 195. Honeywell is responsible for the Embraer 170/190 family's digital avionics, integrated utilities and fly-by-wire flight controls. The orig inal plan for "dual path" certifica tion was revised after discussions with Alitalia, which became launch operator after Swiss deferred its deliveries by a year, says Vicki Panhuise, vice-president pro grammes, Honeywell Aerospace Electronic Systems. The dual-path approach was intended to reduce the risk in certi ficating the "highly integrated" Primus Epic. "Alitalia was more comfortable with a single-path cer tification process that introduces all the functionality at the same time and which is better for rev enue service," says Panhuise. "Alitalia really wants Cat 2." 12 24-30 JUNE 2003 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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