Calgary, Alberta-based Flyht (Booth No. C11546) provided an update at NBAA 2011 in Las Vegas on its next-generation automated flight information reporting system, the Afirs 228, which was tested in May on a Hawker 750. The test confirmed the system’s ability to automatically and continuously stream flight and 4D GPS position data, even during the sort of extreme maneuvers that would typically cause interruptions in satcom links. Now, the 228B–the first release in Flyht’s series of 228 products–is nearing completion of DO-160F environmental certification testing. “The equipment has performed perfectly to date,” according to CEO Bill Tempany.
The DO-160F testing is the last step before completion of supplemental type certificates (STCs). Flyht will complete STCs for the Hawker jet series, Bombardier CRJ 900 and Challenger 300, Boeing 737 NG, 757-200, 767 and 777 and other models. By early 2012, the company expects the Afirs 228 family to be fully certified to provide safety services, voice data, text and electronic-flight-bag integration.
The Afirs 228 will be the first safety-services-certified platform to offer real-time data streaming through FlyhtStream, which can be triggered in three ways: automatically, in the event of a predefined abnormal airborne event; by the crew, with a single button push; or from the ground over Iridium satcom to Afirs by authorized personnel. It is designed mainly as a remote troubleshooting tool, though its automated triggered transmission capability makes it ideal for alerting crew and tracking an aircraft during an emergency.
In other Flyht news, the company has been working with Skyblue Technology Development–exclusive distributor of Afirs products in China–to obtain bandwidth approval for the equipment in that country. That approval has now been renewed for the third time, allowing Afirs equipment to be installed on aviation assets in China until the end of 2017.
Flyht also announced here that it is offering its fuel initiative reporting system tracker (First) to business aircraft operators. The fuel reporting system, which is already being used on a fee-for-service basis by several of Flyht’s transport customers, is designed to help operators develop, adopt and monitor their own best-practice procedures in each phase of every flight to document and reduce fuel burn. Practices for reducing fuel burn include reduced-flap takeoffs and landings; reducing acceleration altitude; one-engine-out taxi; low-noise/low-drag approach; idle reverse landing; and limiting unnecessary APU usage.
Once desired best practices have been determined, the Afirs system monitors aircraft parameters in each phase of flight and compares the data with optimum execution. An operator that evaluated the Afirs and First system from 2009 to 2011 reported fuel savings of approximately 4.5 percent.
