Elliott Aviation is working with Chippewa Aerospace on an STC to upgrade Hawker 800-series jets with the latest Phase V software for Honeywell Primus Epic CDS/R avionics. Elliott will seek its own STC for the NZ-2010 FMS 6.1 version 03040 software upgrade to the Hawker’s NZ-2000 FMS. These STCs will allow operators to fly Waas LPV approaches, although the CDS/R system isn’t required, as Waas LPV is available with the Hawker’s original SPZ-8000 avionics and the NZ-2000 software upgrade. According to director of avionics sales Mark Wilken, there are 347 Hawkers still flying with the CRT-based SPZ-8000, and these are ideal candidates for the CDS/R upgrade, which uses LCDs and weighs about 50 pounds less than the SPZ-8000.

Elliott also announced plans to offer Garmin G5000 retrofits for the Beechjet (Garmin will engineer the STC). The G5000 system will feature three 12-inch displays and synthetic vision, terrain, traffic and other avoidance systems. The STC should be available in 2015 and will add 200 to 250 pounds of useful load to the Beechjet, Wilken said.