At the Helitech 2016 show in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Rockwell Collins is pitching an avionics retrofit it will formally launch at HAI Heli-Expo next year in Dallas, Texas.
The Helisure cockpit display system is now available as an aftermarket product for medium and heavy rotorcraft such as the Airbus AS332 Super Puma and Dauphin, the Mil Mi-8/17 and the Bell 412, Guillaume Zini, a senior system engineer in charge of marketing for civil helicopters, told Vertical. The suite uses 6×8-inch displays, and various configurations, between two and four displays, can be built.
The system has been designed for straightforward interfacing with existing autopilots and flight management systems. It features synthetic vision and terrain awareness and warning systems (TAWS) on the main flight displays. A multifunction display can accommodate a moving map, a video feed, maintenance information, system synoptics or, as an option, a crew alerting system and engine parameters. The Helisure suite is compatible with night-vision goggles, Zini noted.
The key design driver has been cost, to make the retrofit affordable for operators. For example, the avionics suite does not feature touchscreen. To make the hardware easy to integrate, display depth has been halved, compared to the standard found on recent helicopters.
Despite the lower cost, mean time between failure is to remain at a high level – 5,000 flight hours, according to Zini. The quality of the controls – such as knobs – is unchanged, he added.
