[Avionics Magazine 06-20-2016] The FAA has awarded Honeywell Aerospace a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for the Sky Connect Tracker III mission management system on the Leonardo Helicopter AW109 and AW119 models.
Leonardo AW119 helicopter. Photo: Leonardo Helicopters.
These are the first of an expected 14 helicopter STCs for the Honeywell system that meets the 2018 air ambulance Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) mandate and provides satellite tracking and communications services. The mandate will require operators to capture data according to a broadly defined set of parameters including information pertaining to the aircraft’s state (heading, altitude and attitude) and condition (rotor blades, transmission, engine parameters and flight controls). The full set of STCs, along with complementary EASA certifications, will be completed in the coming months.
Enabled by the Iridium satellite constellation, the Sky Connect Tracker III is a global mission management system with dual-channel design that enables simultaneous use of voice and data communication and tracking features. With new and legacy systems now operating on more than 5,000 aircraft worldwide, the Honeywell Sky Connect network handles more than 5 million tracking, text and telemetry messages each month.