Innovative Solutions & Support continues its aggressive certification schedule of reduced vertical separation minimums (RVSM) equipment for a wide range of business and regional jet aircraft.

According to a schedule produced by Dave Marvin, ISS vice president of marketing and sales, the Malvern, Pa.-based company is scheduled to obtain supplemental type certificates for its RVSM air data display unit (ADDU) on as many as six business aircraft, including the Hawker 700, Sabre 60 and 65, Learjet 31 and King Air 200 and 350, by the end of the year.

“The RVSM ADDU is our primary product for the business jet market,” said Marvin. “We already have system certification on various makes of Citations, JetStars and Lears, and look forward to providing this capability for other business aircraft in the very near future.”

The race to certification is partially due to new RVSM requirements being implemented in the Western Atlantic route structures (WATRS) in November and in Europe in January. RVSM requirements reduce vertical separation between aircraft from 2,000 ft to 1,000 ft between certain flight levels, thereby increasing available flight routes within the affected vertical airspace.

RVSM rules established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) were implemented first over the North Atlantic in March 1997, and over the Pacific Ocean in February 2000. The U.S. is scheduled to implement RVSM between Flight Levels 290 and 410 in 2004.  

In addition to working toward its rigorous certification schedule, ISS was selected by Industrie Aeronautiche Rinaldo Piaggio to retrofit the Italian company’s P.180 Avanti business turboprop for RVSM. According to ISS, the installation of the ADDU, which inputs static pressure, displays barometer corrected altitude and outputs air data on an Arinc 429 databus, will be key to enabling the P.180 Avanti to meet RVSM requirements. Piaggio is scheduled to begin OEM and retrofit installations later this year.

The ISS RVSM product line consists of both individual components and partial and complete air-data systems, including digital air-data computers, which calculate various air-data parameters such as altitude, airspeed, vertical speed, angle of attack and other units derived from the measure of air pressure; integrated air-data computers and display units; altitude displays and alerters; and airspeed displays.

Founded in 1988 by current CEO Geoffrey Hedrick, ISS also produces flat-panel displays and engine and fuel displays.