Phoenix Heliparts announced here at Heli-Expo a partnership with True Blue Power, a division of Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics, to pursue FAA Part 27 STCs for installation of the True Blue TB17 lithium-ion battery into many of the airframes supported by Phoenix Heliparts (Booth 2059). The TB17 is a main ship battery providing significant weight savings over lead-acid and nicad batteries, and is designed to lower cost of ownership 50 to 90 percent through reduced scheduled maintenance, according to True Blue Power. The batteries are on display at both companies’ booths.

Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics is also making news here, announcing that its MD302 Standby Attitude Module (SAM), on display at the company’s booth, has been selected as the standby display for the Bell 407GX, Enstrom 480B-G and MD900 Explorer. SAM is the first digital standby to provide attitude, altitude, airspeed, slip, vertical trend and interfaced heading information in a two-inch format.