Field Aviation of Toronto has received a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for installation of the Universal Avionics EFI-890R display system in the full line of classic Dash 8 aircraft, including the 100-, 200- and 300-series models. The EASA STC follows an earlier STC granted by Transport Canada covering the same installation. FAA certification is pending. “This new EASA approval opens up a significant market for us, internationally,” said Brian Love, Field Aviation’s chief commercial officer. “Overall, the Classic Dash 8 population numbers in the hundreds; we can now bring them into the full-digital world.”
The upgrade features five identical Universal Avionics EFI-890R, high-definition, flat-panel LCDs, of which four primarily present the pilots with navigation and flight information and the fifth (center display) presents engine information. The system provides full redundancy by allowing information to be switched between the five displays, as well as a modular upgrade path for features such as synthetic vision, radio control units, flight management systems and weather radar upgrades, the company said.
Field Aviation has now completed flight deck upgrades on a Dash 8 Q300 for the Icelandic Coast Guard and a Q200 for Air Iceland, with a second Air Iceland Q200 aircraft to be delivered with the upgrade next month. The first Dash 8 Q100 to receive the flight deck upgrade is Bluebird Aviation Limited of Nairobi, Kenya with an aircraft in production now and a second scheduled for later this year. When Field Aviation delivers the Bluebird Aviation Q100, it will be significant in that all three series of classic Dash 8s will then be operating with Field Aviation’s EFI-890R based flight deck modernization upgrade.